Secrets From Another Source
by McPerroExtreme
Summary: Set after Mass Effect 2. After the siege on the Collector Base, Joker is on the Citadel looking for a moments peace when he meets an Asari who like him has knowledge of the Reapers and recounts her story which started with a discovery. Complete.
1. Things aren't just Black or White

**A/N: This is my first fanfic so I hope you like it; feel free to give you opinion.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Mass Effect characters featured in this fic, who of which will be feature throughout in later chapters. These characters that are mentioned and are from the Mass Effect Universe are property of Bioware.**

**Also, I won't specifically describe Shepard by gender or history and will always be referred to as 'Shepard' only, so you the reader can interpret his/her origin for yourself and what you chose in both games. I will also only be featuring Joker in the present for similar reasons for those who have beaten Mass Effect 2.**

**Chapter I: Things aren't just Black or White**

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

The Dark Star is the main establishment for entertainment in this district of the Zakera Ward. It has something for everyone as the patrons are of all races, a large majority however being Turians, Asari and Salarians along with humans as well. There are some Krogan in the corner; drinking amongst themselves and keeping each other's company if not working as boncers. There are many aliens dancing with each other and having a good time, oblivious of the danger that reaches them but there is one who knows too much.

This person sits alone in a booth staring at the drinking in front of him. The human is of medium build and is wearing a uniform of his employer. The symbol he bares is one many despise, that of Cerberus and the man is Jeff Moreau, known by his friends as Joker. He picks up his glass of whiskey, gulping it down in one. Leaning back relief, like he has just risked his life and signals the bartender to bring another. The turian bartender brings him another drink and again he takes a sip, but while he enjoys his drink he is being watched across the way by an Asari wearing odd attire herself.

Her attire consists of legging made of leather; skin tight and on the left thigh is a holster for a pistol but her healed-boots had silver shin guards that looked like she had seen battle. Her torso was more revealing, light shoulder pads in silver that attached to her breast plate, also silver and one covering each breast and link together with a clip between them like a bra. Her back however is covered in black leather along with her arms and the sides of her body but the flesh from her waist up to her cleavage is visible. Her belt has many small pouches carrying small but useful supplies.

She is leaning against the bar and is sipping her purple liquid while smoking a cigarette emitting a blue smoke. She just stares at Joker as he continues to drink but after a few minutes she finishes her drink and cigarette and slowly walks over to him sits down opposite, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable. Joker looks up and raises an eyebrow, confused about why a beautiful asari is sitting in front of him, is she attracted to his frail self or is there something more sinister going one goes through his mind.

"Can I help you ma'am?" Joker asks but not losing himself and keeping his voice in his usual sarcastic fashion.

She signals the bartender for a drink to come her way, "You look tired, rough ride here?"

Joker sighs at that question, "You wouldn't know?" and takes a sip of whiskey again.

"Wouldn't I?" she answers.

Joker stops sipping and glares into her eyes, "You know who I am…wait, you not here to kill me are you?"

"Why would you think that?"

"Well you wouldn't be the first?" Joker says putting his glass down.

"Oh, I know. Cerberus has many enemies; you would be shot on sight anywhere else wearing that uniform."

"So you seem know my former-employer?" Joker asks.

"Well-enough" She takes her drink and sips it, placing it down, "I've been rude, allow me to introduce myself."

"Yeah it is rude." Joker says in his signature sarcasm.

She lights one of her cigarettes and blows out the smoke, "My name Rhea T'Anya, and I am a person of interest."

"Yeah, you look it." Joker pauses, "But I'm broke." implying the worst trait of an asari.

Rhea however finds it amusing, "I'm not a hooker, but I do have something you want or better yet need."

This catches Joker's attention, "Oh really, what could you have that I need?"

"Information" she answers taking another smoke, the fumes crawl upward.

Joker replies, "You're not one of the Shadow Brokers agents are you?"

"You really think that I work for a person who is already weak enough with that T'Soni onto him." referring to Liara.

"Then who do you work for?"

Rhea takes another sip of her drink, "I'm self-employed. I hire, I fire and I also seek allies for my cause, something we share."

"And what is your cause Miss T'Anya?" Joker says not paying attention.

"I want what you want, to break the cycle of extinction."

This is final straw that catches Joker attention as not many know of the Reapers existence, "You know of them?"

"Yes."

Joker looks around frantically to see no one is watching, "What information do you have?"

"Enough for me, but maybe I have something for you."

Joker leans forward, "What do you have?"

Rhea leans forward as well, "A story."

Joker leans back in disappointment, "I don't have time for stories, there's a galaxy under threat."

"But this story is one that will interest you, opens many secrets that should remain undiscovered."

Joker sighs and picks up his class, "What's it about?" and takes a sip before getting comfortable.

"I met him in the human year 2155, I was 123 years old. As a maiden, I want adventure, so I became a mercenary, though I wasn't great at that job"…

**12/06/2155- Unknown System**

A freighter drifts through space, it's exhausts are not at full power so it only moves slowly as the ship heads towards an unknown location but the passing of a gas giant indicates that they are near a civilization of some sort. The ship has yellow streaks on the topside of the white vessel and has wings and makes the shape that of a stingray but with a fin on the top. The underneath of the ship is a greyish colour and also has two small fins underneath each wing. The wings themselves bare a symbol on each side, that of a circle which an outer layer of flames in a jet black colour and resembles a star. This is the symbol of Eclipse, the mercenary band infamous within the terminus systems and feared by those in citadel space as well. The only difference between the future incarnation is the letter 'E' in the middle but this due to humans not yet being discovered.

Inside the ship, everyone wears armour loyal to this troop, yellow with the crest on the chest plate. The troop only consist of the humanoid shaped Asari and the thin built salarians, all at this time are wearing their helmets, covering their faces except for the one in charge, a dark green-faced salarian with a scar across his mouth who sits on a chair within the bridge of the ship.

He scans the room and takes notice at his pilot who is in front of him and then his security chief who is watching countless monitors and viewing the hallways and the medical bay but stops when she gets to the mess halls before looking in the cargo hold. The asari watches through the monitor as the there are two other asari and a salarian who are sitting on crates surrounding another crate, where they play a game.

However, in the crew quarters an asari is lying on the bed. She is only wearing a tight black shirt and pants, the under layer of her armour. She is lying on her back but then turns to her side as some other mercenaries walk into the room; this is Rhea thirty years ago. Back in the cargo hold the three mercenaries continue to converse with each while the crate on the other side lays dormant. The metallic crate is grey, large and sticks out like a sore thumb and is sealed tightly shut wherever possible. Standing up from the crate and walking up to it the salarian looks at the cube in curiosity while the two asari continue to watch play.

The salarian scratches his chin and raises an eyebrow, "What do you think is in there?"

An Asari who takes her helmet off and places it beside her on the crate before answering, "Why should we care? We're getting paid to watch this thing."

"Yeah, besides the boss is keeping this one quiet." the other asari says counting credits she has just won.

"Quiet, why's that? You think that jackass is cheating us out of some money?" the asari says with a frown like it was only natural.

The salarian turns around in shock, "What do you mean?"

The helmetless asari gets up and takes a box out of her pouch and opens it to take out a little red stick and puts it in her mouth, she lights it up and begins to smoke, she continues after her first breath, "Well if he is keeping this quiet, then it has to be valuable and I he might undercut us."

"Maybe it's not safe to know?" the salarian says shrugging his shoulders.

She chuckles at the statement taking another inhale of smoke, "Come on, we're Eclipse. You think safety comes with the job?"

"Fair point." the salarian answers and sits back down as they continue to play.

The Asari watching the cargo bay via the bridge monitors types something in and shuts down the console as she gets up and approaches the Captain who is sitting in his chair, she passes him the data-pad with reports and he nods. The asari walks out of the bridge while the salarian sits up and rubs the scar on his lips. His attention then turns to the console in front of him which begins to make a sound and he opens a communication link with a hologram of one of his kin, appearing from the head to the shoulders. The salarian in question also has scars, with one across his eye and another across the patch of skin between his eyes and mouth. He instantly recognizes him and sits up straight in respect.

"Give me a report Gorban?" the hologram demands with his whispery voice and his right eye twitching.

Gorban looks at the data-pad, "Well, nothing out the ordinary. But the crew are starting get suspicious about the artefact."

"Let them be Gorban. I would be suspicious if I knew nothing. Besides, this will set my retirement once it's over. If a few rookies are curious they can kiss my ass."

Gorban puts down the data-pad on a nearby table slouches in a casual fashion, "So you're going through with it?"

"Yeah, I like this life but it's my last decade. I want for age to catch me and not a bullet."

Gorban smiles, "Fair enough boss."

"Indeed. Now, how long until you reach the Relay?"

Gorban types into his Omni-tool, "Well it won't be for another twelve hours, and another ten hours after that. I don't think there is anything else in the system that could attack us, or is stupid enough."

"Well keep the artefact safe, as the buyer won't be happy with damaged goods." the hologram states before disappearing from the console.

Meanwhile down the crew quarters, Rhea is still in deep dreaming until the Asari from the bridge enter and tapes her on the back, waking her up instantly and groaning as the reaction of this. She turns on her back stretch with her body before sitting up, loosening herself. She gets up and doesn't react to the other asari taking her bed as it is custom as this ship has too many in the crew. Walking over to the lockers, Rhea opens the furthest on the left.

While she rubs her eyes she takes her light armour and places it on a nearby table, she also takes out a Hurricane shotgun and places it next to it. Starting with the legs she puts on her greaves, boots, and then the torso-plates of the armour and attaches the shotgun to the back of her waist. Eclipse always were well equipped and usually traded with the turian company Elanus Risk Control, known for originally manufacturing weapons for mercenary groups. The weapons were normally a dark blue colour and very good in quality.

Rhea walks out of the crew quarters into the hallway and passes a few mercs before heading up the ramp towards the bridge where Gorban is typing something into his console. She however ignores the captain and heads for the security consoles and switches it on to see the cargo bay where the same three troops are playing games still and waits there while Gorban continues to type into his console.

On the outside of the ship a small surge of aura passes over and in response flickers for a seconds, shutting power down so quick that they fail to notice but the asari does as her console closes and opens again. Taken aback a little she turns to Gorban, who is still typing. Rhea looks in confusion until she realizes that this maybe normal for the ship as it was an old model. Rhea by her body language gave off the impression of a rookie, as she was jittery and paranoid whenever she did anything. She types into the data pad what she sees on the screen and rests her head on one of her hands which is leaning on the console.

Meanwhile back in the cargo bay, the three mercenaries are playing their game until they notice a screeching noise coming from the giant crate on the other side of the bay. The asari without a helmet gets up first and draws her pistol, pointing it towards the crate and slowly approaches it. The noise is heard again, this time sounds more like an engine starting and the two remain mercs draw shotguns and aim for the crate.

"Captain Gorban?" Rhea calls him over still watching this from her console.

"Yes?" he says preoccupied.

"Something's happening in the cargo hold." she points to the screen where the scene has formed.

This grabs his attention as he heads over to the console himself and looks, "What are they doing?"

Rhea stumbles for an answer, "I don't know sir. Something in there must have startled them"

"I better go and stop them. Wait here." Gorban says drawing his Banshee assault rifle.

Gorban signals two of the guards in the bridge to follow him. The three of the head out of the bridge and take a left where the ramps are to the lower levels and pass some of his troops on the way, who notice something is amiss and draw weapons and follow. Now five and heading down to the room as they pass the crew quarters where the other three Asari inside continue to sleep.

Rhea is still on the bridge however is watching the three in the cargo bay as they converse amongst themselves, though she can't hear them and once again the ships systems shuts down for a second and re-power again, these flickers continue. Gorban notices these flickers this time and knows something's about to happen; his expression is annoyed from the top to bottom of his face while heading down the ramp to the lowest level where the troops are pointing at the crate. However his face turns to confusion as he begins to hear the engine sound and his troops notice as well.

He walks slowly towards the three in front only raising his rifle a little, so he is half-guarded but like all of them are put off by the following sound which has changed to and engine with a background pulse which is getting more rapid each second. The huge crate begins close in on itself until it explodes and the debris knocks down the front three troops but not killing them.

They fall back when the room fills itself with a blue gas and all eight evacuate the cargo hold and shut the doors with the locking-code. However the flickering seems to have stopped and they all catch their breath over what they saw. Gorban looks around, and sees that nobody knows what is actually happening and are just as shocked as him. By this time the other Asari from the crew quarters have arrived, not armoured but armed because of all the commotion. The ship shakes a little and startles them all.

"Can somebody tell me what's going on?" Gorban shouts in frustration.

The salarian from the cargo bay steps forward, "Sir, the crate starting making that noise and we did…"

"Fuck! Fuck! the boss is going to be pissed!" Gorban says pacing up and down.

There is pause before the helmetless asari speaks, "What was that think in there?"

"It wasn't anything. That artefact was an object, it must have just powered up." one of the armoured asari answers.

"It affected the ship, it flickered like that before but not this frequent." another adds.

"We aren't making it out of this one." says a salarian who rubs his rifle.

"Shut up! Listen, we don't know what it there, and if I report this to the Boss, then my breeding contract is in a fucking black hole!" Gorban says still pacing.

"So what do we do?" ask another salarian Salarian.

"One of you has to go in there." Gorban states pointing his finger like that of a judge.

"WHAT!" on asari reacts, "I'M NOT GOING IN THERE!", and from this they continue to squabble amongst themselves.

"QUIET!" shouts Gorban pointing his gun at all of them as they stand at attention, "One of us has to go in there, now all of you are good troops, but it doesn't mean…"

"Wait. What about that rookie, Rhea?" says the only Asari not wearing helmet.

"Yeah. That rookie in the bridge. No one will miss her." another member says in favour of the idea.

"I concur. She hasn't exactly proven herself as an efficient member." another salarian agrees.

Gorban thinks for a second, "Get her. Bring her down here." he says and points to two of them as they run up to the ramp.

A few minutes later the two mercenaries return and are dragging Rhea, who is struggling to break free. Her biotics aren't as strong so she is overwhelmed with the two other asari who are aiding themselves with a pulling technique.

Gorban punches the open code. "Put her in", he says and they obey, using their push ability to throw her in. Gorban throws her an extra shotgun as well for protection, though she is screaming all the way down.

Rhea is lying on the ground and can't see anything in front of her because of the intense mist filling the cargo bay, in just a few minutes the whole room is filled in the blue gas. She gets on her knees and notices that the gas isn't toxic but doesn't feel completely safe at the same time. Standing, she turns around and sees the same endless image of blue covering the whole room. She walks forward with her hand in front trying to find an object to touch, like she was blind. Eventually she reaches a solid object for the first time as her palms touch the wall.

Scared and alone she presses herself against it as a tear roles down her left cheek. Her heart rate begins to increase and for some reason she feels a tingling on the back of her neck. Something was approaching her, slowly taunting her into submission as she turns around sees a pair of pure black human-like eyes and screams as the blue around her becomes dark and images of the stars appear in its stead. Like ecstasy as she feels her head becoming even more confused but relaxed at the same time.

Outside however it's a different sound as all the Eclipse mercs can hear are screams, each mercenary is looking at another in horror of the sounds. Gorban himself is distancing away from the door which is locked but for how long. The screams stop and the mercenaries get in a defensive position; two of them follow Gorban to the bridge while the remaining eight aim at the door to the cargo bay. The doors open and blue mist creates an invading atmosphere as their eyes squint trying to look at the target.

The battle begins as biotic shockwave approaches, knocking down two mercs while the being begins to move, faster than expected as he fires a shotgun in the head of another merc, instantly blowing her brain across the wall like a piece of art. Before the next can pull the trigger it jumps out so fast and breaks her neck in mid-air before the other behind can notice she is dead, her fate ends with a shotgun shell threw her back, so close the built-in shields can't protect her as she sees a hole in her torso and bleeds to death.

The creature continues its pursuit as it throws the shotgun in the face of one of the three remaining mercs in the hallway, instantly knocking her out while the other two attempt to run to the up decks. This attempt is short lived and so are their lives as the creature again display an impressive set of biotic attacks, pulling so powerful that the two remaining merc are flung to the opposite side of the hall, back where the blue mist strong in presence, it can only be presume that the mercs are killed from the impact with the wall at the end of the mist. The remaining asari merc who was hit by a shotgun can only see one more thing before she fall unconscious, a darkish grey foot and shin, looking like a human or asari for her reference except more masculine defined.

Gorban is on the bridge; panicking among his two remaining guards as they hear footsteps coming towards the now locked door. The two guards aim their assault rifles and prepare to fire at the target but there is silence among them and the target that isn't making any noise. They then hear a noise and signal that door was about to open and when it finally does, the guards fire rapid and hard to point that their weapons over heat, and the creature sees opportunity while mist pours through.

Showing intelligence in its movements it flings the two guards that were thrown back into the wall, the pilot as well is killed as one of them hits her at that speed breaking her neck. This leaves just Gorban alone and in fear by his console in the middle of bridge, as the mist clears, Gorban is one given the honour of seeing the creature in person.

The creature was no different in looks as a human or Asari, except that he was a dark grayish skin tone and his eyes are pitch black with no ears but small ear-holes instead. His was naked and had nothing on him, but his body was almost human looking but instead of hair or a head-fringe the creature bore long dreadlock-like spines that reach half way down his back. Gorban was on his behind, crawling back in fear as the now described alien slowly approached him and grabs him by the neck, pulling him to his feet. Gorban is speechless as the alien shows a form of emotion as a smirk paints his face. A second later, Gorban is sleeping for eternity as he is dropped to the ground.

Rhea wasn't witness to the past events and had just woken up in a sitting position against the wall where she has been asleep for a good few hours. Raising her head, she scans the room to find that mist is gone except for few fumes coming from where the large crate one stood. She stands up to see what was in its place, and approaches a strange shape, like a miniature ship and coffin rolled into one.

The jet black vessel surrounds a lying down type of seat surrounded by an alien variation of breathing equipment and monitors. Not seeing advanced technology before of this calibre, Rhea looks around the room for weapon but fails and head out of the bay to see the massacre that followed in her sleep.

She sees the two mercs that were flung back into the wall dead from impact, the victims of the shockwave in the same position and the headless corpse of one lying on the ground with her blood smeared on the walls. A pool of blood from the one who has a hole in her torso and drowning in it is the asari with a broken neck. The only one missing is the one who was knocked out but she doesn't notice as she is sick at the sight and vomits by the pool of blood.

Trying to keep composure she heads to the medical bay, which is on the same level as the crew quarters. She enters to see the one other survivor of the massacre lying on the medical table with her hands cuffed to the table. Rhea notices that the body has no clothing as her feet are sticking out of the cover and from this she fear that this asari might have had something done to her but she looks to peaceful while asleep. Rhea sees the reason for this on the nearby table as the poor soul has been sedated and is reacting well to it. She steps closer to the table and then thinks her second possibility, which was far worse as feared that the Asari was raped but before she can look underneath she stops at the edge of the table, hearing light footsteps and picks up the pistol on the surgical tray.

She straightens up as soon as she feels that same tingle on the back of her neck, this time she is better prepared as she turns and points the gun but it's too late as the creature has grabs her wrist, the one holding the Striker pistol and it is now pointing across his shoulder. She tries to move her arm but the creatures grip is great and his arm built to endure. The creature is still naked but the only difference now is that his arms were covered in Asari blood, making him the culprit of this unnecessary surgery. She however gazing into his eyes again and can't help but be in some sort of hypnosis, but this time out of choice as her struggle decreases and her muscle loosens as she now doesn't feel afraid of him, who is just staring at her out of confusion or intrigue.

"Who….are….you?" is all it says speaking for the first time.

Rhea is scared for her life as she can understand the creature but sees the opportunity to let go as she feels less grip around her wrist. She breaks free and runs past the creature that just turn his head to left, following her movements. Rhea heads into the bridge and locks the door, though that won't help but there is no time to notice as the ship itself is about to reach the Mass Relay, only she is in-between the possible impact.

The mass relay is a magnificent sight for those who have never seen it before, for the shape and the blue aura emitted from the centre and the two rings moving like a gyroscope. But despite its beauty there were more pressing matters at hand as the Eclipse ship that once housed a dozen mercenaries was about the crash right into the centre of it.

Rhea being the only one alive on the bridge, seeing the dire situation and in need of a hasty reaction but is scared for her life. She looks over to the front of the bridge and heads where the pilot's controls are, but due to the creature's killing frenzy the pilot died and is still sitting on the chair with her head resting on top of the console and the piloting controls. Rhea pushes the body off the seat as it falls to the ground near another deceased mercenary. She sits down and frantically looks at the numerous apparatus.

She panics and screams but this is then when she realizes that the emergency VI control is right in front of her as she presses it in relief. The bridge itself light blue for a second as all the control covert to automatic and as the ship glides towards the titan of the mass relay the blue pulse of Element Zero grabs the ship and flings across the galaxy like a slingshot.

Rhea leans back on the chair in relief before realizing that there is one last problem left aboard, the creature itself. She stands up and grabs an assault rifle that once belonged to the captain, Gorban, now lying on the floor with his tongue hanging out. She checks the lights on the side of the rifle, signalling that it okay to fire and wasn't overheated. She points it forward as she begins to approach the door. She unlocks it and heads down the ramp and take a slow left, forever keeping her rifle looking straight ahead as she is nearing the medical bay. She takes cover by the wall next to the open door as she prepares to turn and fire but as she turns she sees nothing but what she did before.

The one remaining survivor is still lying on the surgical table, her hands cuffed down and the cover over her naked body, and yet still in dead sleep. Confused, she turns around to the head down the hallway, just as cautious as she was before. She looks to find the crew quarters are closed, the way they should be so there isn't anything different there. She does however begin to hear a sound of rummaging from below and immediately turns towards the ramp the room that lead to the ramp.

Her hands begin to shake as her fear once again takes hold and she heads into the dark room. Taking light steps down the ramp and keeps the rifle straight as the dim blue light that is getting more florescent the deeper down the ramp she goes into the room. She sees nothing but a light coming from the exposed miniature coffin-like ship, answering the cause of the dim light getting greater as she walks into the room. One top of the ship, blocking some of the light is the grey humanoid creature, crouching down like it is looking for something, not taking notice of Rhea who was about to shoot him.

The creature lifts its head up and turns a little not turning to look her in the eye, "You…you are…you are afraid…are you not?"

Rhea keeps hold of the rifle and keeps it pointed at the creature despite her hand trembling, "How do you know that?"

"It…is…blatant" is his answer as it stands tall and hops of the ship and begins to approach her, "Your expression…your body language." lifting its left hand and presses the rifle down as it falls to Rhea's side, "But…you have no need to fear." it says giving of a smile.

Rhea swallows some saliva and can't bring herself to say something. The creature's male voice shows its intelligence and the fact that it was naked still was an issue for her as it wasn't very accustom to have no attire on. She felt that the creature could now be referred to as 'he', as he turns away from Rhea and climbs back onto his ship, crouching and continues his rummaging around. She is still shocked as she puts the rifle on one of the remaining crate that wasn't destroyed and heads over to the ship herself.

Leaning over the first thing she looks at is the creature bare back, smooth but notices a scar where his spine is and there are small dots along the side of it. She scans to see what he is looking for as he is gathering some equipment. The first thing that she sees is a long black strap made of a metallic substance with a buckle that connected the two ends. He picks up his next item which is a small pouch that seems to be full as his attaches it the belt magnetically. He has another two of these pouches and attaches them next to the other one.

Rhea leaves him to it as she heads up towards the crew quarters, heading over to the lockers. She opens each locker and finds loose clothing but mostly female due to the large Asari crew but as she get to the last locker she takes out a pair of pants, a black colour and boots of a brownish colour, she places them her bed while looking for a piece of torso attire but can only find a black mesh sleeveless shirt, filled with light metal padding.

She heads back down to the cargo hold where she sees the creature now out of his ship and his belt on the crate where Rhea's rifle is. He turns around, showing his naked body and gentiles as Rhea throws the clothing towards him which he catches.

He looks down at the three pieces of clothing and then back up to Rhea, "Thank you" is all he says as he put the brown pants on then followed by the boots and the black mesh shirt. He then grabs his belt and raps it securely around his waist, the three pouches on the right side, "Thank you, I am sorry that you are witness to this?" the creature says stepping forward in his new attire.

Rhea looks at him, "What, witness to you killing everyone in this ship?"

"As I recall there is one survivor."

"You mean that asari in the medical bay? You raped her!" Rhea accuses.

The creature face turn to shock, "If you must know, my intension was to interrogate her. But, seeing as you here, you save me that more drastic option."

Rhea looks in confusion, "Why undress her then?"

"Shock, if she wakes up with no clothes, she more likely to assume the worst and in defence, answer anything I ask." he says with truth in his voice.

Rhea looks around and sees the damage he has caused, "Why am I still alive?"

"You are innocent in all of this. Your fellow co-workers sacrificed you without consent, and I saved you." he says.

"Saved me? You called that massacre up there saving me?"

"When my mind fused with yours, I gained some of your memories, fear of what just happened before I approached you was the subject current inside you mind, and from that I did justice."

Rhea looks at him in disgust, "You killed everyone for me?"

"What they did was barbaric, and inexcusable. The sounds of your scream during our encounter would prompt the others to kill me on sight. I just beat them to it." he justifies.

"But their bodies are all over the halls and bridge!" she exclaims pointing towards the ramp.

He turns aside in a bit of shame, "Yes. I must apologize for the mess, while I awoke I was still in a feral-like state, and my biotic abilities were more erratic and my grasp on you language was still developing. It was when I saw you again that I began to reach a civilized mind-set."

"Wait." Rhea says looking at the ship, "How can I understand you?"

"When I found you I needed some form of communication, one of the techniques I know was an ability to extract certain information, such as linguistics. I can't just wake up and expect to converse with locals casually."

Rhea looks at the ship and has an expression of misunderstanding, "That's an ancient artefact. How were you dead in it and then all of a sudden you come back to life?"

The creature looks at the vessel as well in confusion, "You believe this to be my tomb? My word, I was in deep hibernation, cryogenically frozen not deceased."

"Then what waked you up?" she asks still examining the ship.

"Must have been the signs of life, it was set to release me when intelligent life approached. Though by their demise, they weren't that intelligent." he says with a smile.

Rhea chuckles and realizes how much she hated them. She looks back at him, she realize that she is smiling and changes her face back to serious, "Then what's your name, where are you from?"

The creature walks to the ship and looks, like he is trying find an answers, "Strange, I have answered all you questions so far but I am having trouble finding an answer to this question. It is like I was meant to have a name." he turns to her, "However when I linked my mind with yours, I gained access to you languages."

Rhea sits on the crate, "So?"

"So maybe you can give me a name?" the creature says.

Rhea looks at the creature from head to toe, "Why me?"

"Well, I did take a lot from you. Information, a few memories yet I have none of my own."

"Can't you remember anything? Who put you in there?"

He thinks for a second, "Maybe you can help me find my people?"

"I'm sorry, but there are many space-faring species, and strange naked grey muscular men aren't in that category, sorry."

He thinks again, "Maybe I was engineered."

She shrugs, "It possible, the salarians are messing with anything these days" she looks at him more thoroughly, "But that ship is too old to be a salarian. It was classed as an ancient ship, pre-dateseven us."

"Well the ship now is useless, I have taken its energy source and it'll should shut down in minutes, it was designed that way" he states looking at the ship once more and then walking across the bay.

Rhea follows, "So the buyer of this thing will have nothing of value?"

"If my ship was a data-cache, then I am the data. That is the best way to put it."

"Well, he is going to be pissed off either way." Rhea says watching him opening another boxed crate.

"Despite me knowing not of my name or my origin, I'm not for sale" he says opening the crate looking inside. He then takes out of the crate a few clothes that with stored inside until he finds a brown jacket made out of a leather material and has silver metal shoulder pads attached to them. It also has plates where the shoulder blades are and two small lights, indicating that they are weapon holders. He takes a pair of black fingerless gloves of the same material with small spikes on the knuckles. He puts them on along with the jacket. Now feeling that his attire is complete he turns around. "So, may I ask you for a name?"

Rhea thinks for a second looks at him again from head to toe, "I like the name Krieg."

"Krieg, why so?" the creature asks in fascination while walking back to his ship.

"I don't know, suits you I guess?" she says walking back to her rifle on the nearby crate and picking it up, "Yeah, you look like a Krieg-type of guy. I'm Rhea by the way." and gives him a small smile.

"Hello Rhea." is what he says as the lights on his ship fade and total darkness takes the cargo bay, "Ah, my ship is shut down. May I suggest that we head upstairs onto the bridge?"

Rhea looks to the light coming from the hallway, "Okay, come on."

The two of them walk up together, Rhea leading the way as they head up the ramps and into the bridge. Outside of the viewing windows the ship is flying space as the Mass Relay connection was successful and they are now in the system where they were meant to be. Rhea takes the pilots chair while Krieg sits down in the captain's chair, where the console that Gorban was originally using. He types into the console and opens the mainframe where he uses the following message to get an idea of which relay they went through. He then checks the following message that had recently been sent through the extranet. Rhea is helping the VI pilot ship as Krieg looks at the following mission briefing.

_Gorban,_

_We have recently heard of a particularly valuable artefact within the location attached to this message. I have made a deal with buyer so that you can pick it up for me and I'll exchange it for the credits on Omega. You pull this off and there will be a lot credits going you way. However, I would advise you to tell you crew nothing except the location of the following crate that the artefact has been stored._

_Also, after your request for the crew you lost fighting the Bloodpack recently, I'm afraid troops are scarce on Omega so all I can spare is a rookie just joined us on Illium, I expect you to teach her the ropes of our little organization._

_The Boss, Dectra_

Krieg looks to Rhea, "It seems that I was to be sold to a person in the Omega Nebula?"

"Yeah, that's sounds about right. Most of the exchange deals happen on that station, though I haven't been there myself."

"Ah yes you were recruited on Illium weren't you." Krieg says not noticing the following information he just said.

Rhea turns around to him, "What?"

Krieg notices his own comment, "Oh nothing. I am setting co-ordinates for this Omega. maybe I will find answers with the boss known as Dectra."

"In Omega?" Rhea sighs and turns back to the helm, "It's full of criminals. It's impossible to find someone like that there."

"You haven't been? So how do you know?" Krieg stands and heads to the front near Rhea and looks out the window staring into the stars and the silence of space.

"Krieg?" Rhea says trying not to look at him.

Krieg turns to see Rhea trying not to look into his eyes, "Yes Rhea?"

"About what happened back there, with the others throwing me in….thanks for not killing me." she says looking out the window as well.

Krieg smiles, "I wouldn't kill you Rhea. You're too kind to be a mercenary. You're different."

"Err…thanks." is all she says trying to wonder what Krieg means by 'different' but dismisses it after a few seconds and continues looking into space.

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker looks at Rhea, confused and almost smirking in jest as he doesn't seem to be taking the story seriously. He takes a sip of whiskey and put the glass on the table while Rhea holds one of her cigarettes and continues to smoke. While taking a sip of her drink, she watches Joker looking around the bar and sees that the place is just as the way it was, patrons drinking, dancing the night away but fails to realize that despite how must they act in their everyday life, Joker knows a possible fate of the all and so does Rhea. Joker turns back to her and picks up his near empty class.

"So wait a minute, are you say that your friend, the one who knows about the reapers was a naked grey guy who happily killed a dozen people." he says laughing at the end.

Rhea takes a smoke, "It was ten…at the time."

"Come on? I've heard better than that."

"Have you?" she asks taking another sip of her drink.

Joker gets up and finishes the last of his drink as he places it on the table, "Listen, thanks for the story but I'll pass on the rest."

"Well I tried, you obviously know enough about the reapers so you don't need anything from me" she says smiling at the human.

He scratches the back of his neck, "Well…see'ya." and walks out of the main door of the Dark Star.

Rhea finishes her drink as well and the bartender approaches her. She shakes her head and signals she doesn't want another beverage as she takes another inhale of smoke and releases it through her mouth smiling. She continues to sit there and feels a little disappointed by his reaction for a second by mumbling, "He'll be back."

Joker however is walking in the wards of Zakera heading towards a small alleyway takes a right into a small hallway where there are some doors to the left hand side. He limps to the third door down and takes a card from out of his pocket, swiping it by the scanner on the left and opens the door as he enters to reveal a room with a bed on the right and a locker on the left. A small screen is on the wall at the foot of the bed as he switches it on and listen to the local programming before taking his boots off, along with his cap and shirt as he climbs into bed and lies their watching the bright screen until he falls asleep but while he does he can't help but think about what Rhea said to him and with each moment his curiosity grows until falling into a deep sleep.


	2. Running from Shadows and Blood

**A/N: Here is my second chapter, enjoy.**

**Chapter II: Running from Shadows and Blood**

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea sits where she did the night before smoking one of her cigarettes and has a glass of purple liquid on the table. She continues sitting like she is expecting someone while watching the world of the club around her. Her eye is taken by two people at the bar, a red turian with white markings wearing civilian attire and has his arm around an asari in the maiden stage like her, possibly the same age as her as well. This asari unlike her wears heels and red leather pants along as well as a matching top showing her cleavage. She watches the couple as they walk to a booth as sit down next each other, his arm around hers and the two of them smiling as they drink. Rhea smiles at the young lovers like she has seen it many times over and hasn't gotten tired of the sight before inhaling her cigarette and sipping her drink.

Signalling the bartender to bring over another drink, she puts her out cigarette on the table and much to the annoyance of the bartender as she starts to drink. She had recently spent a lot of time in the Dark Star for the wards never had a cycle of daylight; therefore the place never shuts down. To the people this is an advantage so they can drink all day but on the other hand things can get a bit intense as a salarian at the bar arguing with another bartender of same race. A krogan bouncer walks up the grabs the salarian by the back of the collar and begins to drags him out. The Krogan strength makes it no real struggle; the sight of the alien is more amusing than anything. The Krogan drags him through the first set of doors and down the steps to main set of doors where he throws him out like rag doll.

Luckily Joker has just managed to move as the Salarian falls on its back and groans in pain and drunkenness. The pilot sees the bouncer, who gives him a glare as a warning not to cause trouble. He enters the club, but doesn't go to the bar. He instead looks to where he was sitting the day before and sees the same asari sitting opposite where he did. As she takes yet another sip of her drink Joker approaches and sits opposite her and she smiles when putting down her glass on the table.

"So. You're back for more?" Rhea says smiling at him.

Joker looks with glare as a drink is delivered to him, "Well your story was entertaining, something I haven't felt in a long time"

"Really, does your work really make you that grouchy?"

"You haven't heard the half of it…" he says getting comfortable, "But then again, you may have."

"Quite.", she answers, "So tell me Mr Moreau…"

"Joker. please." he insists taking a sip of his whiskey.

"Joker. What made you come back after mocking me the last time?" she asks with curiosity.

Joker sighs, "Well, to be honest I love being a pilot. When I walk with limp, it makes feel like I'm nothing." he smiles, "But when I have the helm of the ship, I feel that my problems don't exist."

Rhea smiles knowing the feeling, "You feel free when you fly out and reach the stars."

"Yeah." Joker leans back in comfort.

Rhea sips her drink, "You know despite what you've got, we aren't so different in that retrospect."

"Huh. I doubt it."

"You felt alone, you were different, an outcast."

Joker rubs his forehead, "Sometimes, my training wasn't a smooth ride, but then when I joined the Normandy…"

"You felt a part of something, you had something to hold on too." says Rhea, like it was familiar.

Joker is amazed of how she finishes the sentence, "Yeah, how do you know? Did you check my file?"

Rhea chuckles, "No, I felt the same when I was with the Eclipse. I knew I didn't fit in but when Krieg came along, my life changed forever"

"So what happened, after he killed everyone aboard?" Joker asks with cynicism as he leans in.

Rhea raises her eyebrow, "So I can continue my story without you being jerk about it?"

Joker raises his hand, "I swear."

Rhea takes a sip of her drink before continuing, "Well, remember when I said he killed them on the ship? One person did survive apart from me"…

**12/06/2155- Eclipse Ship, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

In the medical bay of the Eclipse ship are many stations and units but the medical table is in the centre of the room. On this table lay an asari, whose hands her cuffed down which were normally used for stability in treating wounds but also could be used for torture if someone was sadistic enough. Her naked body is covered with a sheet and she still sleeps peacefully but her reaction will be of that of surprise. She was lucky however, being one of only two survivors on the ship as not far outside of the room lay many corpses with the stench of death looming over them. They haven't been touched as they are still fresh though the blood has dried around them, especially on the wall where the brain of another asari is smeared.

The only other survivor was entering the medical bay herself and this time not in her Eclipse armour because of their willingness to sacrifice her to save their own skins. She now dons different attire which consists of her old clothes before joining Eclipse, dark blue skin-tight pants and black boots, a utility belt across her waste and on her torso is a tank top of the same blue colour. She looks over at the other Asari and instead of feeling a sense of worry; she remembers what she did to her and now her mind is filled with hatred though wouldn't admit it in her body language. She heads over to one of the tables and opens one of the lockers, taking out a syringe and a jar of green liquid. She dips the syringe inside the liquid.

She heads over to the medical table and lifts up the sheet to reveal the asari's left arm as she rubs the skin where she will inject her. She waits for a second as Krieg walks into the room and leans against the wall on the opposite side. He nods to Rhea and she injects the asari with the liquid in manor that gives the impression that she knew what she was doing and after about twenty seconds the asari begins to move. Krieg watches Rhea and not the other asari lying on the table. She opens her eyes to see Rhea looking down on her, with a face of tolerance but when her eyes see Krieg, she becomes afraid like she was seeing a ghost.

"Hello." is all Rhea says and that's all she needs to say.

The asari screams and tries to move, "What's going on? Where am I?"

"You're on the ship. You fucking bitch!"

"Listen Rhea, we didn't know what was in there!" she realizes that she is naked and struggles more, "We thought you died?"

Rhea smiles, "No. I'm alive and I do know what was in there." It is about this when Krieg walks to the opposite end of the table with his hands behind his back. The asari looks up and screams to see the grey alien in full attire this time and looking more civilized than his last form as a naked killer. Krieg just smiles as Rhea continues. "Tell us what you know about the contract?" Rhea insists.

"Listen, Gorban didn't tell me that much. He just said about picking up the crate, I didn't know there was a thing inside of it."

"I guess he didn't either when he was killed" she says putting one of the deceased Gorban's fingers on the right side of the table, by her head.

She tries to move her head away and feels like she is being tortured by Rhea, "What?"

"Me and you are the only survivors, Fayla." Rhea says revealing her name.

With her name revealed she looks at Krieg with a disgusted face as she has never seen such an alien before, "You fucking bastard, they were my friends!"

Krieg dismisses this statement, "Huh. And as friends you were murderers and thieves yet you don't notice your own faults. Strange?"

She tries to get up though futile in attempt but enough for Rhea to step back, "You bastard! You fucking bastard!"

As she stops struggling Rhea intervenes, "What are you going to do? Are you going to kill her like the rest of them?"

This question makes Fayla very nervous as Krieg walks around the right side of the table up to her face as she trying to moves her head away but she can only go so far as Krieg feels her skin, "Your chance at death by my hand has past."

"Then you'll let me live?" she asks in relief.

Krieg is silent for a second, "Yes." This causes Fayla to sigh again in relief as he removes his hand from her cheek and walks out the room and Rhea following him. However he uses a light biotic power to cast the sheet off from her, revealing her body as she begins to cover her lower region with her legs. Leaving the stress of the situation behind they head out of the medical bay and lock the door behind them.

The two of them head up to the bridge where the bodies have been cleared and they have brought a few crates from the cargo bay. Rhea takes a Striker pistol and attaches it to her left hip while also taking a few clips and attaches them to her belt. Krieg does the same except on both hips for more duel-style effectiveness of shooting as he believes in travelling light but with protection will be sufficient for their escape. He also ties his spine-like hair into a pony tail as he heads to Gorban's console and begins downloading data, which includes the various messages exchanged between Eclipse executives. The information is loaded on a disc and he puts it in the inside of his jacket. He sits in the chair while Rhea is piloting the ship which is getting closer to their destination.

She also is downloading some data from the console because she hasn't been to Omega before and not knowing your way around a place like Omega is dangerous. She opens the data files and downloads the maps of various districts as the Eclipse need such information in order to keep track of progress and changes on the station, like turf wars and easy cargo routes. She switches the autopilot on and stands up and putting on a small blue back-pack and puts various medical supplies taken from the medical bay inside as some sealed food tins. Carrying it with her left hand and resting on the shoulder of the same side, she follows Krieg as he exit's the bridge, leaving the autopilot on as through the ship window as the lights of Omega approach the vessel. The stingray-shaped ship guides round the multiple floating asteroids as they have finally reached Omega-Space.

On Omega itself many ports surround the various districts and once a mining station and the asteroid was rich with Element Zero. The ports themselves are shaped so that they attach to the ship, allowing safe passage onto the station and protection from the vacuum of space. The port is also built to extend when ship is nearby, to the length needed because of the various shapes and sizes ship take nowadays.

On other side of the glass is the bay itself. Being an Eclipse cargo bay there are various Asari and Salarian mercenaries in their trademark yellow armour, whether it is light, medium or heavy but all bear the flaming star insignia. The only person who didn't wear armour of this kind was Dectra himself. His war-scarred body wore his veteran armour consisting of white metal-padding on his lower half but on his torso he wears yellow shoulder pads and a chest plate to make his chest bigger which was a problem to most salarians. Underneath the pads and chest plate was a light-padded sleeveless black mesh and on his elbow joints are pads that attach to the black gauntlets he wears as well having a yellow Eclipse insignia instead of a black one. He carries two weapons, a striker pistol on his hip and a custom assault rifle on his back which combines to make a sniper rifle as well.

Dectra leans against a wall while the dozen other Eclipse mercenaries are getting ready for the freighter they have been expecting to approach their cargo hold. He leans up and looks out at the window as the ship is about to dock. He signals the troops to board as soon as it attaches to the dock. However things take an unexpected turn as the stingray-shaped ship misses the dock and attaches to the next one.

Dectra's face turns to disbelief and then anger as he knows something is wrong, "Something's happened? COME ON!" he says while running out of their docking bay and heading down the main foyer to the next dock which is see locked. "I have no time for this!" he says and takes his pistol and shoot the lock on the door opening it and allowing the rest of the crew enter while arming themselves.

Dectra and the dozen troops following head in the cargo hold where the various crates owned by someone else fill the room. However they run up to the doors and find that the link to the ship is already attached and doors opened. It could be assumed that someone has already left without shutting it down or leaving security. Dectra leads the troops as they enter the ship and are immediately in the level where on the left to them is the bridge. Two mercs head inside to investigate are while the remaining eleven head downstairs where the Medical Bay, Crew Quarters and the entrance to the cargo hold exists.

Seeing the various bodies on the floor Dectra signals caution and sends seven of his troops into cargo bay while he enters the crew quarter to find nothing unchanged but begins to hear the sounds of struggling from the medical bay. When approached he opens the door but takes cover as he raises his pistol and points it from behind the wall. When he decides to enter the bay he sees Falya naked, crossing her legs. One of the asari troops takes the sheet from the floor and covers her while two salarians unlock her cuffs. She sits up and wraps the sheet around her as she stands on her feet in front of her superior.

"What happened?" his whispery voice asks loudly followed by a twitch in his left eye.

Fayla can't look at him in the eye, "Your cargo woke up."

"Woke up?" Dectra can't believe it as he thought it was a relic.

"It killed Gorban and the others."

"Everyone is dead?" he asks using his free hand to life her chin-up.

"No. Rhea escaped with the thing. It can talk"

Dectra looks at her in disgust as he lets go of her chin gently and uses the same hand to backslap her across the face, "YOU BITCH! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP IT?"

Fayla holds her face, "IT KNOCKED ME OUT! WHEN I WAKED UP I WAS HEAR!"

He turns around as he can't bear to see her face, "Get you armour Fayla. I am giving one more chance as you've good to me over the past years."

"Thank you, Dectra." she says getting up but before she can walk a loud explosion can be heard from underneath them and a large quake occurs at the same time.

"What was that?" Dectra asks while he notices the quakes getting a little smaller but still occurring. He heads out the medical bay and down the hallway. Turning to the cargo hold door he dares not go down the ramp as the place is on fire.

Krieg's vessel had self-destructed and the seven mercenaries were torn apart across the room their remains everywhere. Dectra and Fayla run hastily up the ramps back to the top deck and out through the attachment doors and out to the dock. As the remaining five mercenaries consisting of two asari and three salarians exit first, Fayla follows and Dectra after as they shut the doors and head completely out the cargo bay itself into the main foyer.

The ship explodes into pieces, but the ship isn't the only thing affected as the explosion eats away at the dock itself as various crates are swallowed into exploding mass. The sound and debris of the ship along with the crates float around the station. Many local residents approach the mercenaries location but the view outside catches their eye rather than Dectra and his crew. Dectra himself glares a Fayla who is in disbelief in what just happened.

Krieg and Rhea are already far from this location as the two of them are walking through the streets of Omega. Rhea has a data-pad with a map on the screen and is leading with Krieg is following but not without looking around at the various cultures that crowd the place. Vorcha are plenty in this neighbourhood but there are also some batarians, turians, and krogan on the streets at the various markets and diners they pass and live their everyday lives. Rhea wonders how anyone can bare to live in a place like this with near-poverty and not able to reach higher aspirations because of it. She sees everything from people threatening each other in public to beggars asking for spare credits.

This intrigues Krieg however as he looks back to Rhea and continues to follow. Despite being a fair distance away from the docking bays this was still an Eclipse neighbourhood and there were normally two of them around the corner, for patrol reasons more than anything as they had to defend turf from rivals. As Rhea hadn't been to Omega before but no one on the station knew she was a member and didn't take notice. They didn't take notice of Krieg either though being a person who sticks out like a sore thumb but because of the numerous species that exist in and out Citadel Space he could have been seen as anything they interrupt him to be. The two of them continue down the street and see a diner that hardly has any customers and sit down. Krieg is calm and collective during this time while Rhea is the opposite.

She looks around before speaking and then smiles and lets out a big sigh, "I can't believe that worked."

"Moving the docking number one place really confused them. If you hadn't of done I would have had to kill them" Krieg says while pressing the menu button in the centre of the table.

"All the better I suppose. I've seen enough killing for now." she admits while looking at the menu as well, "So do you eat or something?"

"Well I seem to mimic behaviour of an organic so I guess I do." he answers scrolling down the menu, "Is there anything you recommend?"

Rhea looks at the menu, "Well I'm going to have the Tuchankan-soup. That's my favourite."

"Of course, I'll have that as well." he finishes as he places the order into the menu and closes it. He then takes another look around the area while sitting, "This place is amazing."

"Amazing?" Rhea is taken aback, "This place is dirty. There's a mercenary on every corner and the place has no law what so ever."

Krieg thinks for a minute, "I see. You never been here before yet have such dark opinion about it."

"Well I heard about this place on the news a lot, nothing but trouble all the time."

"Yet you joined Eclipse who is an organization that thrives here."

Rhea's confused, "What do you mean?" she asks while a batarian brings them their soups.

Krieg takes the soup and sips his soup before speaking, "Well if you hadn't of found me, you eventually had to come here sooner or later."

"I suppose." she begins her meal and the two enjoy a moment of piece for first time.

It's been awhile since Dectra witnessed his ship destroyed by what he refers to as his 'retirement'. He is now in his headquarters which is a warehouse in lower Omega. The mercenaries are guarding the crates while civilians move them. Dectra looks on from his office, a gloomy room with a window with a view of the whole warehouse for surveillance purposes. The walls are murky and dirty, like they haven't been cleaned in long time but his desk isn't the same. He has various things on the desk from data-pads and files to a console of his own but it is switched off for now.

He watches Fayla, who is in light Eclipse armour on the far side of the warehouse on guard duty and can't help but stare at the mark he gave her while they were on the ship. Her left cheek was a darker shade of blue and while staring he touches his own scar, first the one below his nostrils and then the one across his left eye. He hears the intercom next to his console go off as he turns and walks to his desk, switching on his console and bringing up a report. He is obviously is expecting a call.

He presses the button and speaks, "This is Dectra?"

"Dectra, I recently got your message." the voice pauses, "Is this your twisted version of a joke?"

"Joke? Edan, why didn't you tell me that the thing inside that artefact was alive!"

"Oh come on! Did you really that that I thought there was something inside? I was giving the description of a tomb, not a cage."

"Well your deal has cost me seventeen soldiers and perfectly good ship. I WANT COMPENSATION!" Dectra demands while slamming the table.

"And I want my artefact." the voice replies.

"Well it's too late for that now"

"Of course. Your fuck up leaves not just you out of creds, but me as well. I had a buyer but now I see potential from this current situation."

Dectra looks up in interest, "Oh, what do you have in mind?"

"The creature that you're employee described intrigues me greatly; a living being is probably more valuable."

Dectra sighs, "I not going be you're a slave Edan"

"No, you'd rather kill it. But if I made you an offer would you be interested?"

"What kind of offer?"

"If you can find and capture the creature, then I will happily pay for it"

Dectra thinks for a minute, "How much?"

"Six million." Edan says from the other side.

The salarian smiles, "Deal."

"Good, don't fail me this time Dectra."

"I don't intend to, speak to you later." he finishes shutting off the intercom. Dectra grins as he turns and continues looking outside his office.

Somewhere on the streets, Krieg is leaning against a wall watching the civilians of the station walk past him. Vorcha are plenty on Omega, as the Citadel sees them more as pests so they never reach out further than the terminus systems. Their lifestyle and psychology is barbaric as they hit each other as a form of communication, because civilised speaking to them is near impossible due to their feral minds. Their lifespan doesn't help either as 20 years is the lifespan of an animal not a sentient being.

Rhea is on the opposite side of the street, she has her backpack in her right hand and using her Omni-tool while conversing with a batarian. She gives the Batarian credits and walks over across the street, past a few Vorcha and signaling Krieg to follow her as they walk down the alley and take a left where a group of four doors lye on their right. They head to the fourth door down and Rhea swipes the door with a card and she enters, Krieg continues to follow them inside.

The room is a standard en-suite, nothing but a bed, a small kitchen unit and two chairs with a low table. It has no window being a station and relies on a red neon light. Rhea puts her backpack on her bed while Krieg looks at the room.

"This will do for now." Krieg simply says.

Rhea opens her bag and turns to him, "By the way. Because you kill people, I get the bed" smiling afterwards.

Krieg smiles and sits down, "Do you think Eclipse will find us here?"

"I don't think so and from the maps that I downloaded this is Bloodpack territory. That's why there's a lot of vorcha around here." she takes a tin out the bag and heads to the kitchen unit and puts it on a the metal circle as it begins to glow. She sets it for thirty minutes.

"Are you okay?" Krieg asks as he takes off his jacket and belt and puts them on the table.

Rhea continues looking at the tin as it is cooking, "Yeah, I was just shocked back on the ship. The blood, the bodies, you coming to life…it's a lot to take in."

Krieg stands and walks over, "I understand that I caused you a lot of inconvenience."

"It's okay. You couldn't help coming back to life" she smiles.

"Thank you"

Rhea turns to him, "For what?"

"Being here. I appreciate the company, your company"

Rhea bites her bottom lip, "Thank you" and walks over to the door, "I'm just going to store around the block. I won't be long"

Krieg eyes follow her, "I'll wait"

"See you later, and watch the food" she smiles and walks out with the door sliding shut behind her.

Krieg walks back to where he was sitting and picks up his belt. Reaching into one of the pouches he took from his ship and takes out a small object. The object had three rings, one inside the other about half the size of his hand. Holding it with his index finger and thumb as he brings it close and the object begins to move, the inner rings move like a miniature mass relay as light emits from the centre. Krieg watches as the light shine greater and greater with his eyes in awe of the site of it.

**2185- The Dark Star**

Joker leans in interest as he has listened to Rhea describe the object that Krieg had in his hand the day they stepped on Omega, "So he had a Mass Effect core in his pocket?" Joker says in disbelief as he believes it.

"He had many things he took off that ship of his. The core was the most important however?"

"Why?"

"Because that thing powered his ship. It didn't have an engine but was powered by a high concentration of biotic power"

"Biotic power?" He looks at her without a clue.

"When Krieg channelled a little of his power into the core it began to activate."

"What was it for?" Joker asks.

"I never really knew how he would use it, but he kept it safe always. It caused more trouble than it was worth."

Joker thinks about the time he went to Omega, "Wait a minute you were on Omega and the Eclipse were after you? So what about Aria? Didn't she hear about you being there?"

"No, but she heard about the dock blowing up."…

**13/06/2155- Transit Freeways, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

Dectra is in an air-car sitting on the back seat like he was a king but as the boss he could do pretty much whatever he wanted and in the front of the motor was his driver. Fayla was pissed off as she knows that he hasn't forgiven her about the ship. She follows the traffic and while she focuses on the freeway Dectra is looking at various files he has been given by Edan, who sent additional information to help aide him in his new deal, to capture Krieg. Fayla looks behind for a second until she sees Dectra staring at her once again, but not in a harsh way but with a more mysterious glare. She gets the impression that Dectra is attracted to her despite him hitting her.

"Why are we heading to Afterlife?" she asks.

Dectra snaps out of his staring, "She called me. She wants to discuss the accident."

"How pissed off is she?" she asks dreading his reaction.

"Very." he mumbles as he puts the data-files down.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I have an offer that could get me out of this mess." he says leaning back smiling.

Fayla tilts her head and raise an eyebrow, "How?"

"I'm going catch that creature alive and you're going to help me."

She jolts the vehicle but continues when she gets her composure back, "You can't be serious?"

He leans forward until he is behind her neck, "How does a hundred thousand credits sound?"

Despite his warm breath unsettling her she smiles, "A hundred thousand?"

"Yes, it's all yours. But you don't have to-"

"Wait!" she says smelling the fortune before it exits, "Okay. I'll do it"

"There will be certain 'terms' required for this contract."

"I'll kill anyone you want….I'll do anything" she says in excitement.

"Good." is all he says leaning back.

The vehicle arrives in the parking lot by Afterlife and they see the various people waiting in line as the Elcor bouncer holds them back, doing his job. Fayla parks and lifts up the door as both she and Dectra step out the vehicle and she closes it behind them. He leads the way to the line of people trying to get in. Not following regular conventions both he and Fayla cut down the line and are about to reach the steps until the Elcor stops them but slowly retracts his action as a turian bouncer signals him to let them pass and they head into the foyer of the club.

Once in there, they see various sites from a group of batarian men flirting with an asari, a pair of krogans arguing with a pair of turians and even a pair of asari locking lips with each other. However the two of them ignore these aliens as they enter the giant club itself glace towards the far side of the club, which looks different from it modern look but is still quite similar. Aria is talking to Patriarch and while they make their way to her Patriarch notices and leaves. They head up the steps and sees that Aria's muscle are leaving the area also so that they can talk is private. She sits down and leans back getting comfortable before tilting her head, allowing Dectra to sit down on her right while Fayla remains standing. A batarian bartender brings her a drink and she holds it in her right hand.

Dectra puts his hands up, "I know what you're thinking?"

Aria crosses her legs, "Really, no shit?"

"Listen Aria, I-"

"You listen, prick! I gave you permission to make this deal on Omega so long as I got my cut. Instead, the deal doesn't go down one of the docks 'I' own is destroyed and I have to pay for repairs? And I don't get my cut."

"Things got complicated." Fayla interrupts to Dectra's annoyance as he wipes his face.

Aria sneers at Fayla, "If I want your opinion I'll ask you. You fucking bitch."

"Fayla was on the ship when the 'incident' happened." Dectra exclaims.

Aria turns back to Fayla, "Oh, well your importance here has risen a little then."

"Thanks." a sarcastic Fayla replies.

Dectra continues, "Listen, the artefact I was transporting had something alive inside it. It killed the rest of crew except one, a rookie."

"Really, and you want me to help find this person?" Aria says taking a sip of her drink.

"With your contacts, you'll locate her easily."

"What's in it for me? You owe me, remember."

"For what?" Fayla asks

Aria turns to Fayla and responds, "For giving you and the Eclipse a second chance to make up for this mess."

"My client has made a new offer since the incident and I'll cut you in." Dectra smiles.

"How much?" Aria takes another sip.

"Two million credits."

"That's a lot, even for you Dectra?" Aria claims, "This person must be valuable?"

"She's expendable, it's the thing with her that he is interested in, and he wants it alive?"

Aria smiles and stands, "That's a tall order."

Dectra mimics her as he gets on his feet, "Aria, those credits are worth the catch. That money can be used any way you want. I'll even fund the repairs at the dock with my cut"

Aria smiles, "Okay." she says putting her hand out and Dectra shakes her hand.

"You won't regret this." he says as Aria sits back down.

"Who is this rookie?" Aria asks.

"Her name is Rhea T'Anya" he states.

"I'll see what I can do" she answers as he nods and begins to leave.

Fayla follows him, "Two million, why am I getting only a hundred thousand?"

"Fayla, look at yourself and then look at Aria." he states before continuing, "Now this 'anything' that you said you'd do." is all he says as the two head out of the club.

Krieg and Rhea are sitting on the chairs in their small rent-a-home as they both have their jackets off and are relaxing as much as possible while they are each eat lumpy yellow food from a bowl. The source of the liquid is in fact from the tin she cooked earlier and when exposed to air it expands and with this there was enough for two. Krieg has finished but rests the bowl in his lap as he just watches Rhea eat hers slowly. She is uncomfortable with him watching her but at the same time likes it, she never had a person pay so much attention to her before and in the last few dozen hours she has made a good friend, despite his high killing rate.

She stands up and takes the bowl from him as she takes them to the counter. She feels a tingle on the back of her neck as yet again Krieg's presence behind her. He is not too close as he lifts his hand and holds her arm, lightly rubbing her with a gentle touch. She shivers a little bit nervously as she turns around to face him, he holds her with his left hand as his right thumb rubs her lips, as there was a smudge of food from the meal. Instead of wiping it, he instead put the smudge in his mouth and tastes it. She looks it his eyes but she breaks the silence as she moves to the bed and lies on it, facing the other way so that she doesn't look at him. His face turns to disappointment as he looks over but she her trying to ignore him. He walks to his chair and takes his jacket, being the thicker of the two he takes it to her and covers her torso and she wraps herself with it. He then sits back on his chair and looking at the wall. He closes his eyes and begins to fall into deep sleep and his dream begins.

_Inside of his mind there is nothing but endless black, nothing happens as his memories are few. However in the distance is a small light as it begins to increase in its mass until the light explodes and comes to life, endless shades of blue spiralling out of control as image begin to form and he begins to see something. The image forms a body of a squid, titan in size as it flies around a gas giant. The images remain blue and blurry but the dream becomes more intriguing. The squid somehow explodes and falls into a state of comatose as five comets evacuate the gigantic being, heading in five different directions._

He gasps for air when he wakes and he looks around to see Rhea asleep and everything the way it was before. He grabs his pistol from the table as something seems different. He iscorrect because things were brewing not far down the street as the Batarian who rented the room for Krieg and Rhea is talking to some locals. The three people that he is talking to are in fact the very people that the two of them are trying to avoid as they are the local mercenary band in this area, know across the known galaxy as the Bloodpack led by Krogan and followed by two vorcha. The three members are a Krogan in black armour with red coloured rims and a dark brown crest while his two friends are his vorcha goons, not very intelligent but loyal none the less as they continue talking to the batarian.

The locals in the area are intentionally ignoring them as they are either trouble or giving them the wrong look will cost them a finger but most of them are vorcha anyway. The krogan doesn't look happy as the batarian isn't speaking but things change as his vorcha thugs knocks him to the ground and begins kicking him. The krogan walks up to the batarian's counter and types in a code to reveal data on who is in what room. He finds out the pair are in room three as he signals the two to follow and they stop beating the poor soul with bloody face by now. The Krogan leads the two to the door and as he and one of the other vorcha take cover behind a pair of crates and arm themselves with their Banshee assault rifles and wait for his other goon to swipe the door with the stolen master key. However when he opens it he immediately dies from a bullet to what little brain he has as he falls to the ground. Krieg is holding his pistol and has taken cover on the left hand side of the door so he doesn't get shot.

Rhea is sitting on the bed. "What's happening?" she asks getting up on her feet.

"Pack your things. I think they've found us." he says and she obeys. He still hasn't got his belt or jacket on, leaving his arms exposed to the gunfire as the remaining vorcha and the krogan shoot frantically. He turns the corner and shoots a few rounds before returning to his position. By now Rhea is packed and holds her pistol and covers Krieg while he puts on his belt and jacket.

When they are ready Krieg and Rhea are both against the wall while Rhea holds her bag. Krieg looks at her and nods as he turns and starts shoot as he sidesteps to the left protecting Rhea behind him, helping her around the corner. Krieg uses the fire as a distraction but as he follows her, he shoots the other vorcha with ease and then follows Rhea. The krogan isn't happy as he begins to chase them, first through the busy streets as they are able to slip through the crowd. The krogan isn't built for stealth and is too big to move through so he charges knocking various residents to the ground on the way. The two of them head into the alleyways where they are alone but are fast enough to out-maneuverer the krogan. Annoyed, the krogan smacks the wall and walks away but in real truth, Rhea and Krieg were right next to him, around the corner standing silent. She sighs while Krieg relaxes and puts his pistols back in their holsters.

"They weren't Eclipse we're they?" he asks.

Rhea is breathing heavily, "No. That was one of the Bloodpack, and they are the other gang on Omega along with the Eclipse"

"What was that thing chasing us?" he scratches his chin.

"A krogan."

"Krogan? His size played to our advantage"

"Well they are known for more than that. Can we get going?"

He looks at her as she is in distress, "Okay, we'll get out of the neighbourhood"

"No!" she says walking up to him, "Off this station. It's nothing but trouble."

Krieg holds her shoulder, "We'll get out of here. Don't worry."

Rhea looks down in fear, "I hope so." She looks at the opening of the alleyway, "There should be a shuttle that can take up higher up the station? There is more likely to be a way off up there." and walks in that direction.

Krieg follows, "Where will we go?"

"I don't care, just as long as we get off this shithole."

Krieg feels a bit of guilt as he knows that he is the magnet to this trouble. "Fine." is all he says as they head into the streets once again.

Meanwhile the Krogan who had just chased the pair is walking back to where he started with a look of anger. He walks past the various people he knocked down when chasing Krieg and Rhea but doesn't care and turns the corner where the rooms for rent were and sees a salarian sticking his head outside the far end at the first door but hides as soon as the krogan gives him a glare. The sentient reptile enters the room and scans it, only seeing the bowls and the tin on the counter and nothing of value to him. He scans it once more before leaving and shuts the door behind him. Stepping over his vorcha goon he crouches and takes the credits that were on him and does the same with other one by the crates. He also takes their rifles as he intends to sell them for profit but before he can a red light enter the crest of the krogan and he immediately falls down deceased.

Dectra is in his office in his warehouse; he is sitting at his desk and typing into his console. However on the other side of the room is Fayla sitting on a chair with her lower body armour on only and is just putting on her under layer of the upper half. She puts on the stomach, back and chest plates before her arm padding attaches to the under layer. Dectra is ignoring her as he continues his work not affected by what just happened in which he cashed in on the 'anything' that she said she would do.

She felt like her body had been assaulted though she knows she got into this mess herself by saying that she would do anything and not just that but also her greed got the best of her. She stands and puts on the last of her armour and glares at him as he returns with a smile. She leaves the room giving him what he wanted as he puts his hands behind his head and leans back in triumph though he took advantage of her through manipulation and not force. His relaxation is interrupted by his console indicating that he has a call incoming. He presses the button to begin the conversation.

"Dectra here?"

"Dectra, its Aria."

"Ah, what have you got?"

"I managed to find you girl, I used one of my contacts and found them in one of the lower levels."

"Really?"

"Only its Bloodpack territory and my contact was a Krogan who got a bit curious and tried to capture them himself?"

"SHIT!" Dectra shouts at the top of his voice.

"Don't worry. He's been disposed but I'm afraid the Bloodpack want in on the deal, seeing as they are the other remaining power of Omega not getting a cut."

"No way. We don't work with the Bloodpack." he says still pissed off at the situation.

"Then they will be your problem then. I'll carry on tracking the pair and we call you for a meeting when ready."

"Okay, talk to you later" he says sitting down and rubbing his left eye scar again.

In Omega's shuttle station Rhea and Krieg are sitting on bench and waiting as the shuttles come and go and civilian board and drop off the hover ships as they begin their journey to the next location. Rhea is tired and is rubbing her eyes constantly while Krieg looks the same as he usually does. He watches the electronic board in writing he can understand while say from a batarian or turians eye's they would be different symbols altogether.

He knows which number they have to board is more worried for the Asari next to him as she is just looking down like she had given up. Krieg looks at her but she doesn't look back and doesn't want to. She however is thinking of him and moment they shared in the rented room. It had been the first time in a long time that she felt the way she did but was afraid to act upon her emotion and ignored them instead, like she was trying to do now. Her attention is broken by Krieg touching her shoulder to indicate that their shuttle has arrived and they head to it. Rhea steps on board first and Krieg afterwards, sitting opposite her. He again just stares and wonders about their encounter in the room as they begin to move from the station while she continues looking down. She does look up once and he smiles but she continues looking down again.

"Rhea, are you okay?" he asks with concern.

She looks up, "Yeah, I'm just exhausted."

"I'm getting the feeling that you're beginning to doubt me. Do you wish to part ways when we leave Omega?"

She looks back down, "I don't know. I'm thinking about it."

"Well when you have made a decision, don't hesitate to let me know." he says and smiles.

She smiles back, "Thank you." she says as the shuttle begins to go faster through the junctions.

Dectra is back at Afterlife with Fayla by his side as well as four Eclipse mercenaries behind him, three Salarians and an Asari with their helmets on. They are now in the main foyer before entering the club as the various patrons know that something is going down as they enter the club and see a turian in armour waiting for them. He nods to Dectra and leads them through the club. The people move out of the way and they head underneath Aria 'spot to the lower levels where they take a right and head down the steps to another bar where the scene is the same as upstairs. They head to the left of the bar and into a private room where they see Aria sitting on one side of the room.

Dectra smells something wrong as he looks to the other side and see a Krogan with a dark blue crest and blood red armour with green tubing and the Bloodpack insignia on his left shoulder pad. Behind him is another krogan with light red crest covered with tribal markings on it. He wears armour similar to his leader except its black and red tubes and is accompanied with five vorcha, all ready. Dectra, Fayla and the Eclipse arm themselves as the Krogan to the same, pointing their guns against each other in defence while Aria just smiles at the two rival groups. Dectra keeps his gun up front while turning his head to Aria.

"What's the meaning of this?" Dectra demands.

"Yeah. I thought this was a private meeting, Aria?" says the dark blue crested Krogan.

"It is Grav, only we have three interested parties instead of two"

"We don't work with Eclipse" Grav says glaring a Dectra.

"And we don't work with you, Aria you double crossed us?" Dectra says turning his attention back to Grav.

"No I didn't, the Bloodpack wanted in and I call the shots!" she stands up and in-between the two leaders.

They both disarm and put their weapons away. Dectra speaks, "I don't like this"

"I don't either." says Grav.

"Grav, let's hear Aria out. She hasn't lied before so there must be a good reason" says the other Krogan with the tribal markings.

"Agon shut up!" Grav says to his annoyance.

"Listen to Agon, Grav" Aria insists.

Grav looks at his second-in-command and nods his head to the vorcha who still have their guns pointed and put them away in response, "Okay Aria, what the meaning of this?"

"Well you're aware of this girl on Omega and the creature that accompanies her?"

"Yeah, you contacted one of my commanders and he got greedy, if your guys hadn't of killed him, I would've." Grav claims.

"And taken the creature for yourself." says Dectra crossing his arms.

Grav points at him, "Don't push me, you chest-less prick!"

"Calm down. Now, this 'thing' is more dangerous than either of us thought, my scout got pictures of it." Aria says bring a screen up and showing them Krieg in still image, "You'll need to work together to make a successful catch."

"Catch it, I would kill it." Grav says.

"Well killing it isn't an option." Aria says taking off the screen, "We'll have to get them alone as they can integrate well into crowds. He outran you're guy with ease."

Grav groans, "An ambush sounds good"

Aria, Grav, Dectra, Fayla and Agon surround the screen and bring up the area around afterlife. They all look as Aria and how the plan she has in play as the two leaders have no choice to follow her. They might be powerful but Aria was better than them as they listen to every word she says, which is mixture to what both would do. Eclipse is more stealth-orientated while the Bloodpack are the opposite and trash the place as they rush through it. Aria has managed to satisfy their bloodlust while also making it profitable at the same time as Dectra and Grav both nod in agreement and shake hands out of mutual respect.

"The Game is on." Agon says ready to battle.


	3. Bad Time to be a Target

**A/N: Here is Chapter 3. I have been pretty frustrated with my editor, seems to be not saving when I edit my chapters, hope it doesn't happen to everyone.**

**Chapter III: Bad Time to be a Target**

**2185- The Dark Star,****Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker is sitting at the table, amazed and intrigued of what Rhea was telling him. It had nothing to do with the Reapers but hearing that she was once in a situation no different from himself and what he got up to on the first Normandy and the second amazed him. It reminded him of Ilos, when they stole the ship from the Citadel in order to stop the rogue spectre Saren Arterius and his Heretic Geth from unleashing the Reapers from darkspace upon the galaxy. Reapers still existed beyond dark space, but at least Shepard gave humanity and the rest of the galaxy time from the threat, it wasn't long after that however the Collectors attacked and the ship that he loved more than anything was lost along with its commanding officer for the first time.

Rhea signals the turian bartender over to get the pair another round. He approaches and puts two glasses on the table and the bottle it's self so that he doesn't have to return. Joker picks up the bottle and pours himself some whiskey. He looks at her and she nods in response as he begins pouring her a glass though the drink is different for her but she is content with drinking a human beverage. While he is pouring a drink for her Rhea lights one of her cigarettes and is thinking about the time she is telling about and how she felt. Krieg was a tornado in her life that sweep her away on this adventure but at the time things were confusing as she didn't know if she was going to live or die, or how long could Krieg last with the enemies pursuing him. Joker puts down his glass and leans on the desk and prepares himself to listen in on the rest of the story she is telling him.

"So, you were on Omega? The most corrupted place in the galaxy let alone the Terminus Systems. And you had the Eclipse on you, the Bloodpack on you and Aria was after you as well?" he laughs in disbelief, "I haven't heard of that many enemies ally with each other since they wanted to take out Gar…Archangel." he says before given out his real identity.

"Oh, I heard about that. It's a shame that he died on Omega." she answers observing what she heard on the news.

"Yeah" Joker smiles, "And I though just having one trouble was enough?"

Rhea smiles, "Well if only we could wish it that way?"

"Why was this Krieg-guy so valuable to them anyway…I mean a man in tube is always interesting but what made him unique?" Joker asks.

Rhea thinks for a second before answering, "Krieg was strange, he wanted learn everything at once. His fighting skills and learning ability was phenomenal but he never really knew about how people felt. It was like he was synthetic."

Joker raises an eyebrow, "What was he? Was he a cyborg or something?"

"There was always speculation about what Krieg was, but he was real."

"Real? I know he was real but-"

Rhea interrupts before he can finish, "Real as in a person. I saw general kindness from him like no other; he nearly never treated me bad at all."

"Really? Most friends have fights some time or later." Joker states.

She looks down, "Oh, well we did have one fight but I'll tell you about that when I get to that part. But at the time I speak of I was scared and he was the only person in the universe who knew it."

"Sounds like a good friend?" he looks around and continues, "I've lost friends over the years."

"Haven't we all?" Rhea agrees, "But the more we mourn them, the harder it gets."

"So what happened? Do I have to ask because you're here right now?" he observes.

She takes an inhale smoke, "Of course you have to ask, but out of this situation was harder than you think."…

**13/06/2155- Transport Shuttle, Omega, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

A long cuboid-shaped shuttle with exhausts on the bottom rides through the over the streets of Omega. This was one of the few quick routes through the place as it was always a struggle to get on one but it also depended on where you lived as certain neighbourhoods needed the transport more than others. The atmosphere in the air was breathable yet a murky yellow and harder for people to see but luckily for them the transport was VI-controlled and had a set route.

Upon this vessel was Krieg sitting on one of the seats holding a data-chip with his thumb and index finger of his right hand, looking at it with curiosity. He looks opposite him and sees Rhea sleeping and leaning on her backpack using it as a pillow which was comfortable enough. Krieg smiles at the sight of her being peaceful but at the same time realizes that he has caused the predicament that she is in right now, chaos that she didn't deserve as he looks out of the window to see lights of various buildings and lights within the district. He began yet again to feel guilt for the trouble he had caused her and wondered whether or not it would be the right thing for them to part ways after they got of the station. He knows that if they part ways, she will be safe from himself more than anyone as he believes the Eclipse and Bloodpack are going to be the first of many troubles he will come across but at the same time knows that they could easily kill her when he was but a short distance away from leaving and so he felt obligated to protect her.

He stands up to get a better look which was easy as they are the only people on the shuttle as the neighbourhood they came from wasn't a very popular place to visit. Putting the chip back into one of his pouches on his belt he sees the stop they need to get off on and in response he walks to Rhea and brushing his finger against her cheek as she opens her eyes and sees Krieg looking into her eyes again and tilts his head to say 'let's go'. She sits up and rubs her eyes while Krieg heads to the doors trying not look at her for her own comfort. Rhea stands up and puts her backpack on and gets up to stand next to him as they get ready to get off.

She hooks her left arm around his right and he looks but still she tries hard not to look at him in the eye. She has things on her mind as well as she is thinking about the offer that Krieg said about parting ways, except that she felt that if she left Krieg she could return home or gets a job and live a quiet existence but if she stayed with him she might have the adventure she always wanted and experience it with someone at the same time. They were both confused, about themselves and each other. The shuttle lands next to the parking lot by the Aria club, Afterlife, as the two of them step off onto the platform and look around. To the untrained eye they would look like a regular couple, her arm linked to his.

"This must be the place?" says Krieg looking around.

"Yeah, there should be an off-world transport heading here soon." she says as they begin to walk.

"Okay, what do you want to do while we're here?"

"Nothing, I just want to wait at the dock." she says leading him to the docking bay doors.

**Two Hours Earlier- Afterlife Level Docking Bay**

In the docking bay that Krieg and Rhea would enter not two hours from now Dectra stands with two of his Salarian Eclipse mercenaries while on the other side sitting on a crate is the Krogan called Agon who is holding a shotgun. His shotgun is custom-made; dark blue with silver handles and holds a firm grip on the weapon not letting anyone else touch it. As Dectra stares at him the krogan is unmoved like he doesn't really care unlike the three Vorcha inside the room surrounding him ready to fire at the three salarians on the opposite side.

Dectra walks and looks outside of the window and scans the view of the outside station thinking that when this is over he will finally retire and get off this hell hole, but not without the help of the Bloodpack. However things however are going his way as Aria doesn't realize that he will be leaving with the bulk of the credits when he catches Krieg His account will some up to four million credits with one hundred thousand going to Fayla for her 'service' as well. To make things even better, Aria is giving some of her cut to the Bloodpack for their service in the operation, though their work-ethic is questionable at this time as Agon continues to look board and ready for some action. As Dectra approaches Agon the vorcha tense up as they have been reared to hate not just Eclipse but Salarians in general. Dectra comes face to face with the crested reptile.

"You know what you doing, right?" he asks in a deep tone.

"Yeah. Wait for those two as they enter here and don't shoot." Agon responds in an unenthusiastic tone.

"If you do shoot the deals off, we'll come for you."

Agon laughs, "You're threatening me, chest-less?"

"Yeah, I am." Dectra says looking at the tribal markings on his light red crest, "And with you, I'll start with that precious quartet down below"

The krogan leans forward, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I know you not just any old Krogan." Dectra steps forward.

"Whatever." Agon replies spits on the floor beside him next to his left boot.

Dectra looks at the saliva on the ground and his disgust only increases as the presence of the Bloodpack was bad enough. He leaves and his two mercenaries stay as it is a joint operation after all.

**Present Time**

Two hours later the six mercenaries are still there with Agon sitting in the same place and the Salarians talk amongst themselves, showing still that there is a divide within the community. The vorcha on the other hand are sitting on the ground playing around as their short attention span is a natural weakness for them otherwise they would be the perfect slaves. The doors to the district open as Krieg and Rhea walk in and see both the Eclipse and Bloodpack standing together side by side and are ready to fire at the Asari and her friend. Krieg immediately stands in front of her in protection while Agon stands in front of the whole Bloodpack and Eclipse squads in order to negotiate. Rhea stays behind Krieg and pulls her pistol out without them seeing while Krieg stands firm. Agon steps forward holding his shotgun but doesn't point it at them as he looks around and sees Rhea but not the pistol.

"Rhea I presume?" he says standing straight again.

"Don't talk to her, talk to me." Krieg demands.

Agon laughs, "It talks, I heard that you're a crack shot." he looks at Krieg pistols, "Though you're in deep shit now, aren't you?"

"What do you want with her?" Krieg demands.

"We don't want her; we want you…alive apparently." Agon says looking at the salarians.

"That doesn't sound like a Krogan?" Rhea states as she knows the krogans savage nature.

"I know, believe me?" Agon agrees and faces Krieg, "Listen we used Rhea to track you down, but it's you they want so we don't have to kill her."

"That's not part of the plan?" states one of the salarians.

"You interrupting weren't in the plan either, and I'm in charge!" Agon exclaims

"Yeah, Agon is boss!" one of the vorcha says.

"I wasn't talking to you!" the Salarian says.

Agon steps between them, "Both of you shut up!"

Another vorcha speaks, "Agon, I think we kill Salarians?"

"NO!" Agon shouts hitting him like a pet varren.

"If one of them fires the deal is off Agon!" the salarian warns him.

The two parties begin to begin to argue intensely as Krieg still stands frozen. Rhea uses this opportunity to point her pistol and shoots a Salarian in the face killing him instantly while Krieg uses a biotic push on the rest of them. Agon is pushed into the wall and drops his shotgun. Krieg pulls his right pistol and starts shooting, taking out the vorcha one by one while the krogan crawls to get his weapon. The remaining salarian has pressedh is alarm and not far away another band of mercenaries are approaching hastily to their aide but the salarian's fate is sealed when Rhea shoots him in the head too.

Agon grabs his shot gun and fires it, hitting just past Krieg and the backfire against the wall causes a set of blue sparks. The pair begins to flee the docking bay and head down the street, by this time the crowd are fleeing as even in Omega open gunfire might be the norm but it's dangerous as well. Krieg leads as they enter the market area and find that the place is already empty of not just customers but owners and shopkeepers too. Krieg does a scan of the whole area.

"Rhea, take cover!" Krieg insists.

"Why?" she asks pointing here pistol.

"IT'S A TRAP!" he says pointing his pistol to his right towards a counter and fires hitting a vorcha appearing from behind it.

Rhea runs over to some crates and takes cover out of view while Krieg continues the battle. Luckily a few shots hit his jacket and only chew the material as he continues to fight in an open space but takes his other pistol out to prepare. Many Eclipse and Bloodpack are here even Agon has reached the battlefield but holds back to watch Krieg fight.

The first wave begins as seven Bloodpack vorcha and a krogan come running in front of him as well as two Asari and a salarian Eclipse coming from the left firing at will. Both Eclipse and the Bloodpack were well equipped for this fight as all were using Elanus Risk Control weapons, either Banshee assault rifles, Hurricane Shotguns or Striker Pistols.

He starts with two vorcha; shooting one in the leg slowing him down and the other in the head, killing him. He then throws a shockwave of biotics to the Eclipse to delay them and put them off but has to immediately dive out the way as the krogan charges past him. In mid-air, he fires his pistols, taking out the crippled vorcha and one of the other healthy ones in the chest and begins to squirt blood over one of the counters. He gets up and turns his focus a salarian running up to him and knocking his sub-machine gun out of his hand and finishing him off with a bullet to the stomach, falling in a pool of his own blood.

Krieg has no time to lose momentum as the two asari have gotten up and are trying to use the biotics of their own and attempt a push, but Krieg is more powerful as he pushes them into a stack of crates, with the higher ones falling on top of them. He has time to shoot and kill three more vorcha with their insides spread across the floor of the market, the blood spreading to the salarian's corpse by now. The asari are trapped and knocked out and the krogan isn't anywhere to be seen along with the last remaining vorcha and he assumes that they have backed down. He heads back to Rhea's position and she has gone. He frantically looks around for her but realizes that the Krogan must have used the opportunity to distract him and take her as she wouldn't run away on purpose.

Things get worse as Krieg turns to see that some varren are approaching at a fast pace towards him. He climbs onto a crate and shoots one in the head instantly killing it as it falls while the remaining two leap towards him. However diving out the way disorientates the pair as they hit the crates instead of Krieg. He turns around and shoots them both in the body slowly taking them down but succeeds. He turns to see about a dozen Eclipse' heading towards him via the alleyways, leading to him to run into another direction.

He only has time to shoot two of them down before heading back to the Afterlife entrance where two krogan stand of which one of them has a grenade launcher. The krogan fires and the flying grenade heads towards Krieg who ducks in response while still running and firing at the krogan each bullet hitting its chest and not affecting him until he shoots the crest from three meters away. He quickly does the same to the other krogan while the ten Eclipse behind him follow and are still shooting, but Krieg turns and takes out another three of them before picking up the grenade launcher and firing it killing the remaining seven members.

He has no time to look at the bloodbath but does pick up one of their assault rifles after putting his pistols away. He then fires upon the second wave of vorcha heading towards him but makes small work of them as he cuts them to pieces with them rapid fire coming from the rifle. The five vorcha fall down in pieces and blood covers the space in front of Krieg's feet. Turning around he sees someone walking out of the club. A krogan, except this one was unique as he has heavy silver armour on and glowing red lights all over his suit. He holds a unique weapon, an assault rifle with a larger tube and box attach above the standard issue, making it a mini-rocket launcher and can switch between the two functions. He turns to Krieg, who is alone and surround by the combined bodies of the Eclipse Salarians and Asari, and Bloodpack krogan and vorcha. The Krogan points the gun towards Krieg and fires a rocket towards him. Krieg dives out the way and the duel begins.

Krieg immediately takes cover and shoots a few rounds as the krogan walks down the steps slowly. By then two other Bloodpack krogan have joined their brother-in-arms armed with shotguns. The backup krogan fire in Krieg's direction though don't have the intelligence to take cover while the Heavy Krogan fires from his assault rifle, but the bullets he fires emits acid however Krieg is to focused to notice. While the Heavy stays put the backup take cover by now and pick their times to shoot as they believe this is going to be a difficult fight. Krieg is doing the same as he stays behind the raised fence that blocks the bullets. He turns the corner to see that one of the krogan has left a foot open and point's the rifle shooting the krogans foot, causing the krogan to lift his foot in pain and hop bit out of cover giving Krieg more of a target to finish him as a few bullets to the face causes the krogan to fall down in pain but not enough to kill him.

Krieg heads to a new spot to his right side of his original position but now has change to hit the Heavy and does so with a few bullets, not enough to kill him but to take him aback none the less. The Heavy shoots a mini-missile towards Krieg's position but fails due to an error as the other krogan, restless decides to charge towards Krieg leading to him entering the missiles way and blowing him up instead. The heavy remains strong as three Eclipse come to join the fight though one dies when exiting the club and falls down the steps, killed by a stray bullet. The remaining two, an asari and salarian are shot down quickly as well, and the fight becomes one-on-one.

Krieg runs forward, leaving himself open to fire and no cover as he heads towards the Heavy, who is waiting for his weapon to recharge. He shoots him with the rifle and with each hit is taken aback a little. But when he reaches the Krogan Heavy, the krogan drops his gun and attempts to clothesline Krieg but he ducks and shoots the krogan in the heels when past him. The heavy falls to its knees and begins to crawl but Krieg isn't finished as his use a biotic push to cast the krogan back into a few bodies before walking up to him and pointing the gun into his face. He pulls the trigger and the blood splats upwards and some marks Krieg on the face as he continues to wreck the krogan's face or what's left of it.

Meanwhile Rhea has been knocked out cold and is been taken by the Krogan from the first wave. He is dragging her unconscious body into the club and passes her to another Krogan who ties her to the middle of the dancer's podium floor, leaving her out in the open. Dectra is standing with Grav on Aria's balcony as they look at the asari being tied. Grav faces Dectra and nods as the salarian leaves the scene and takes his assault-sniper rifle from his back and activates it, ready for battle. Grav pulls out his assault rifle as well and looks around the area waiting for Krieg to come to him in attempt to free her.

Dectra walks outside and sees Krieg looking around the now wrecked area; the Krogan Heavy's missiles caused great damage which somehow contributed to the artwork of blood on the ground. He immediately takes cover so that Krieg doesn't see him. He looks around the corner a little to get a look at his target, Krieg is nothing that he has ever seen before and can't seem to put an origin on the creature but Dectra also can't believe the amount of bodies that lay on the floor around of the area and even sees the cargo bay from where he is crouching. He thought what happened on his ship was a one-off but realizes he has to be smart in order to take him out. He stays quiet the whole time not giving away his position.

Though Edan did ask for him to be alive it was too late for that as he has already lost another few dozen troops because of Krieg's skills and he also thought that it isn't worth risking Eclipse's status on Omega for the sake of Edan, or his retirement. He turns to point the rifle at Krieg lower half and pulls the trigger towards him, clipping his feet and falls down. In response Krieg fires his assault rifle and misses but one of the bullets hits a vehicle behind Dectra. He also sends a shockwave of biotics the salarian's way as well but misses, causing the vehicle to explode. Krieg gets up and flees back into the markets while Dectra flees the burning wreckage. He looks towards the direction Krieg went and glares knowing that this isn't going to be as simple as he thought. He heads back into the club foyer where Grav approaches him, leaving his post.

"What happen out there? I heard an explosion." Grav asks.

"It was that thing. He missed me and destroyed an air-car." he looks back, "Some of you men were dead back there along with a huge dose of mine."

"FUCK!" Grav shouts then calms down, "Wait, where is Agon?"

Dectra shrugs his shoulders, "No idea, his body wasn't amongst the dead that I could see from the docking bay. And Fayla isn't in contact either."

"I'll send some of my men to find them, we need everyone back here. He will come for the asari." Grav explains.

Dectra nods, "I agree, we need as many troops here as possible in order to increase our chance of killing this thing."

Grav focus on him for a second, "I thought you wanted it alive?"

"It's not worth the damage to both our groups."

"Agreed, things are bad as it is." Grav presses his chest to communicate, "Agon? Agon? Are you there?"

"Loud and clear, Grav." Agon responds on the other end.

"Where are you?" Grav demands.

"I'm tailing the target; I'm going to lead him to you in the club."

"That's good, carry on" Agon turns to Dectra, "Let's go" and they both head into the main room.

Krieg has entered the alleyways behind the club and sees that there are some vorcha patrolling the area. He takes cover around the corner and waits for minute to get his composure back as the past few minutes he has gone through a lot and has even seen one of the leaders of the groups but doesn't know that it was him. He is too preoccupied with what happened to Rhea and he can't help but be focused on getting her back and nothing else as it would be wrong if he left her fate in hands of savages but it runs deeper than that, though his feelings are clouded by his killing spree.

He puts a new clip into the rifle and turns the corner and shoots two vorcha before taking cover again. Now he has their attention they begin to fire but he has the adavantage and is well protected. He hears the sound of a few shotgun rounds with each one reducing the amount of rapid fire until the sounds of shells stop completely. Krieg turns the corner and sees that about eight vorcha spread across the alleyway with their body parts only spreading the radius of death. He slowly walks forward; keeping his gun pointed in front of him and scans the bodies. Hearing footsteps coming from the corner to his left he sees walking down the steps is Agon holding his shotgun in his right hand. His presence causes Krieg to point his rifle at him and keeps it there but the krogan isn't bothered about him as he just stands in front of him.

"Still ready to negotiate?" he says with a smile.

Krieg keeps his gun pointed, "Why haven't you killed me yet?"

"Why would I want to kill you?" Agon replies by asking another question.

"You're Bloodpack?" Krieg says and continues, "You want me dead just as much as the Eclipse?"

Agon puts his shotgun behind his back, "No, my superior Grav and that Dectra want you alive. I already told you that."

"Alive?" Krieg is confused of why they would want him that way.

"Yeah, you're more valuable to them that way." Agon speaks while approaching him.

Krieg raises an eyebrow, "Why? I've killed about half of their forces"

Agon is about two feet away by now, "Yeah, you've pissed them off enough to want to kill you. And they will now by the looks of it."

"Why? If they want me alive-"

"They won't risk all their troops being killed for the sake of you; their power relies on numbers just as much as business."

"Then why haven't you shot me yet?" Krieg lowers his rifle.

"I said I would lead you to them."

"Then why haven't you?" he questions further.

Agon groans before continuing, "I don't work for Grav. He keeps me close because I'm valuable to him."

Krieg looks in confusion, "Valuable, how so?"

"There's no time to explain, but I know that Grav isn't a great investment here after all."

"You want to join me?" Krieg asks with hesitation.

Grav sighs, "I'll cut you a deal. I'll help you get the asari back, I know they've got her. I saw one of Grav's men take her. I'll help you if you help kill Grav."

Krieg thinks of the opportunity that Agon has made then agrees, "Deal, names Krieg."

"Agon." he replies shaking hands.

"What plan do you have in mind?" Krieg asks.

"I know exactly what to do." and smiles with a plan in mind.

About an hour later and in the main room of Afterlife Rhea is still tied up in the centre of the dance podium and is now conscious. She is sacred and once again all alone, like she was on that Eclipse ship but now she is surrounded by some of the most corrupt thugs in the galaxy. Patrolling the area is many vorcha while Dectra is keeping his sniper rifle pointed at her from Aria's balcony and looks through his scope towards her.

He is still curious about what Krieg was and how he was capable of decimating that many troops by himself but also about his speed and biotics, which were also too impressive to deny as his powers caused a vehicle to explode out of sheer power. Dectra's eye leaves the scope as he turns to his left and sees Grav standing. The krogan is impatient but knows that this trap will pay off as soon as he hears from Agon but not knowing that he has betrayed him. Grav arms himself with a shotgun while Dectra continues to look through his scope. Grav left chest-plate makes a noise and the light flashes, meaning a communication is incoming and Dectra nods, giving the Bloodpack member permission to answer it.

Grav talks, "Agon, where are you?"

"I'm in the alleyways. That thing is close but I need backup."

"I send some over you way?"

"You don't understand, he is defending his position. You could get an clear shot at him from the alleyways."

"Understood" he says turning to Dectra, "I'm going myself, hold you position. When I give the call, kill the girl."

Dectra nodsand continues to watch Rhea through his scope while Grav heads down the steps, three krogan follow and most of the vorcha as well, not taking any chances as Krieg has killed dozens already and a surprise array of bullets will chew him to pieces. He heads into the foyer underneath Dectra's position and takes a right, down more steps and again takes another right. By this time two salarians follow him and join the group ready to kill Krieg. Grav leads the crew to the alleyways behind the club and find that the place is empty.

Grav tells them to go first out of suspicion, thinking that Agon has already been killed as he sees a krogan leg poking around the corner. As the mercs turn all they see is a grenade flying past them as it hits the wall and explodes, pushing the majority of them forward and into fire of Agon's shotgun. He shoots them in one due to the range of the shotgun shells. Krieg is also joining in as he is taking cover and shoots those who aren't dead yet but it's hard due to the smoke from the explosion. Grav is having the same problem as he can't see what's happen and wanders into the smoke but by now the gunfire stops.

The smoke clears a little and the alley is cover in corpses, blood draping on the walls and corpses on the floor to compliment. The krogan looks around in disbelief as he sees no one. Krieg and Agon have killed all of them and are now nowhere to be seen. However Grav thinks Agon is dead and heads to the krogan corpse that he thinks is his dead body lying face-down. Turning the corpse on it back he sees that face and realizes that it isn't Agon and looks up as the guy himself charging towards him tackles him to the ground and causing Grav to drop his shotgun. The smoke clears to reveal Agon smiling as he holds his fists out.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD! YOU SET US UP!"

"No, you were just stupid enough to fall for it." he replies hitting him in the face twice with his fist.

Grav pushes Agon off the top of him and gets up. The other krogan takes a few steps back and gives Grav a chance to fight as they both get their composures ready for a battle of fists. Krogan fist fights were legendary for their violence and due to the krogan size; they are hard to stop as the momentum of both fighters were immense. They both glare at each other as they begin the battle, charging at each other with all their power.

Agon acts first as he tackles Grav's waist and brings him to the ground and begins to get punched in the face again but stops the third punch with his fist and overpowers Agon back onto his feet and the pushes him into the wall and hits him in the face. The reason why they aim headshots is because their armor is too thick to punch effectively, a turian it might work but not another krogan as only a face punch would be affective as Grav continues to hit Agon. Grav then falls to the ground from a trip of the legs, Agon using a foot sweep quickly and continues this attack with a stamp to the crest. Grav holds his face in pain as Agon takes a few steps back and gets his breath as fighting krogans isn't easy even for krogan themselves. Grav gets up and sees that he is near an assault rifle; Agon sees this as well and takes cover before Grav can crawl and shoot a few thermal bullets his way.

Agon knows that while Grav is on the floor that this may be his last chance as he takes his shotgun from behind his back and charges on top of him in attempt to try and get a shot in on Grav's face but is kicked off target and the sound of shell is heard while Agon moves. In response Grav gets himself up a second time. This time he doesn't fight and heads back to the steps of the club limping up the steps when he feels a sting and some blood spurting in front of him. He looks down and sees a hole through his stomach from Agon's botched shot and falls to the ground leaving him to crawl to the entrance. Agon is following him slowly, giving Grav a chance to die face to face as the lying krogan turns on his back and sits up against the wall.

"Sorry Grav, but we don't give the Bloodpacks blessing."

He begins coughing heavily, "You…fucking traitor…it was wrong to contact you kind." he says alluding to something.

"You had no choice; the Terminus is ours not the Bloodpack."

"And what about the Krogan? We're you only chance for repentance."

Agon laughs, "Why would we want blessing from a race of savages that thought they could do as they pleased. We left because we knew the consequences would be dire."

"You betrayed us and…your marking show for it." Grav sates referring to the tribal marking on Agon's crest.

"We left you to your fate, Weyrloc, Urdnot, the rest of them didn't listen to us when they had the chance to, and that's why we left."

"You…have no…clan, Agon. The Bloodpack could have given you that chance."

"I have a clan." he says pointing the shotgun at Grav face, "And a family." and pulls the trigger, his crest torn to pieces as the bullet makes contact. All of Grav's limbs fall motionless but twitching a little before stopping completely. "Disgusting." is all he says with dots of blood on his face.

During the time that Agon confronted Grav Krieg was heading back up to the main entrance of the club where a few Eclipse were posted. They keep vigilant as Dectra has made his move by warning them. Instead of firing at will he decides to distract them instead by throwing his rifle across in front of them without noticing. The sound of it coming from their right causes them to walk down the steps and head towards the source of the noise, as they turn their back Krieg arms himself with his pistols and shoots them from behind in the front of the heads. As they fall Krieg heads into the club via the main entrance and sees that no one is in the foyer.

He presses the button and opens the doors to reveal the main room and gives him a sight of Rhea in the centre. She is gagged so she is unable to speak and he notices that being in the centre is obviously a trap and takes cover. Before he can take cover an assault rifle bullet chew his right arm, skimming his bicep.

Dectra is still where he stands holding his sniper rifle. As the remaining forces followed Grav into Agon's trap, Dectra is all alone and knows it. He doesn't care about the asari but Krieg does and the fight is now over her fate and has nothing to do about escaping the station, his original goal. Dectra looks through the scope and sees Krieg isn't moving and decides to give him a warning shot by shooting a light from the ceiling. It loosens as it falls next to Rhea and smashing and sparks causing her to scream through her gag as she was close to getting injured from that falling debris.

"Surrender creature and Rhea will go free!" Dectra says continuing to look at him through his scope.

"You're a criminal. How can I trust you?" Krieg reloads his pistols.

"You don't have to trust me, just take my word." Dectra moves his scope to Rhea, "Come up to the balcony. Don't attempt to shoot me, or I will shoot her!"

Krieg thinks for a second before making a decision, "Okay, I'm coming out" and stands putting his pistol back in their holsters as he looks towards Rhea scared for her more than for himself.

He walks up the steps and onto the balcony as Dectra is still focusing on Rhea leaning on the couch where Aria normally sits. He then stands and turns to Krieg seeing him better than he ever did before, "You've killed a lot of Bloodpack to get here?"

"Yeah, and your friend's dead too." Krieg says having faith in Agon and his success though he doesn't know the outcome yet.

Dectra groans, "True. You've coast me a ship, its crew, my forces on here as well, in just a few days you have accomplished what a C-sec officer would take years to do."

"Who?" Krieg asks not knowing what C-sec was.

"Never mind, you've just pissed me off that's all. But the fact you're alive and here is consolation, and all you have to do is come with me." he says pointing his gun to the main entrance.

"Where will you take me?"

"Never you mind. The files have been deleted, only I know the location you will be going."

"Not so fast, Dectra!" says a familiar voice as they both turn around to find Fayla approaching them.

"Fayla, where have you been? We can take him now."

She raise her pistol and shoots Dectra in his right forearm causing him to drop his weapon and sits on the couch in disbelief, "No thanks."

Dectra screams in pain, "You bitch! What's the meaning of this?" he demands an answer as he sees blood pouring from the wound.

Krieg does recognize the asari the one he had pinned to a medical table when he first woke up, "Never thought I'd see you again.

"Are you going to explain this turn of events?" Krieg asks.

She stands causally but with her gun still pointed at Dectra, "Aria gave me a better deal a few hours ago."

Dectra looks up again in disbelief, "Aria? That fucking bitch!"

"She knew you were short-changing her out of the deal, and she took offence."

"I gave the bitch a decent share." Dectra says while trying to stop the blood from flowing.

Fayla gets closer and point her gun in his face, "Two out of six million wasn't good enough for her, she spoke with you client and she cancelled the deal"

"Cancelled the deal, why would she do that?" Krieg asks looking at Dectra.

"You can ask her yourself. Come back here tomorrow if you want answers" Fayla says not taking her eyes off Dectra.

Krieg looks at Dectra in pain from the wound, "What about him?"

Fayla looks at Krieg then back and shoots him in the head killing the Salarian intently, "There, happy?"

Krieg nods to her before heading down the stairs and climbs up to the dance podium. There was still sparks from the light that fell next to Rhea but she was unharmed. Krieg goes behind her and crouches and begins to untie the rope holding her hands together. Untying her she stands and takes off the gag and when Krieg steps up she approaches him and wraps her arms around his neck and hugs him. Never being this close to her before he doesn't know what to do but decides just to wrap his arms around her waist in response.

While they continue their hug Agon walks into the part of the club via the foyer underneath the balcony and sees the two of them. He walks behind the bar and takes a silver cylinder of dark green liquid and opens it, gulping it down in one. He takes another and looks up and sees Fayla up on the balcony. She walks down the steps and sits at the counter while Agon just nods as he gives her a glass of the same green liquid. Krieg and Rhea get off from the podium floor and walk out of the whole club and into the foyer where she sits on one of the couches; Krieg joins her sitting on her right.

"Thanks Krieg." she says taking a grip of his left hand.

He looks down and back up, "I thought you'd be angry?"

Rhea smiles, "Why would you think that?" she says resting her head on his shoulder with Krieg understanding the irony of the question.

**14/06/2155- Afterlife**

In the club where gunfire had been flying the day before, Aria sits in her regular spot,only a little down from where Dectra got shot as the blood has stained the rich material. She has a drink in her hand and takes a sip as she looks around the place. Though the place wasn't as badly damaged as she thought but she wasn't happy about the lighting that was shot down in the centre and thinks that they will have to be repaired. She is alone and outside no one is in sight except for a group of batarian cleaning and collecting up the dead bodies while someone mop the floors of blood.

Krieg is only other person there and is coming from the market, another place full of janitors and cleaning crews. The whole area has been shut down as he walks past the batarians and into Afterlife where he sees hardly any lighting on and making the place gloomier than it usually was. There is some light however from Aria's location as Krieg sees the asari sitting alone drinking her beverage. He walks across the bar and up the steps where he gets a better look at her. She nods to say it's okay to sit down and he does on the left of her and gets comfortable.

"So, you the fucker responsible for all this trouble?" she says taking another sip.

Krieg puts his right arm on the couch and relaxes, "I must your club has been destroyed, you prosper?"

"How do you know that?"

"Dectra's dead, Grav's dead. You live and your enemies are wiped out. You knew they'd die?" he deciphered Aria's whole plan in a sentence.

"Of course. Dectra fucked with me, that's a big mistake but gave me an excuse." she takes a sip of her drink before continuing, "I left them here for you to kill."

"What about that Fayla?" Krieg asks curious about her betrayal.

"When I found Dectra short-changed me, I asked Fayla about the deal. She felt ripped off too and killed him for me."

"Where is she now?"

"She decided Eclipse wasn't for her and is leaving this place, like you little girlfriend" Aria states referring to Rhea though she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"What about Agon? Was he on your payroll too?"

"Agon wasn't a member of the Bloodpack; he was hired by them to act as an advisor."

"Advisor?" Krieg replies in confusion.

Aria decides to elaborate, "Despite their power, they're pretty stupid. They need direction by people who know the Terminus Systems well."

"How does he know about this part of Galaxy?"

"He grew up in the Terminus, like the rest of his kind. He isn't your regular Krogan."

"How so?"

"He is one of the Exiled Ones; look them up yourself if you want to know more."

Krieg looks around the place before asking another question about his new friend, "What's he doing now?"

She shrugs in response, "Beats me, why should I care?"

"What will happen to you now you have control of the whole station?"

"The Eclipse and Bloodpack will be back, but not anytime soon. They'll have to recruit first before they think about expanding back here."

"How long will it take?"

"A few years maybe?" taking another sip, "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know?" he shrugs.

"You can always work for me. I may need new security when I redecorate this place." she offers.

Krieg stands up, "No thanks, I need to find some answers."

"Well I can't help with that. I've never seen one of your kind before."

"Nice meeting you Aria. You're not as bad as I thought." he says as she raises her glass in return as he walks down the steps.

"I can be worse" she mumbles.

Not long later, Rhea is sitting in the docking bay where she has her backpack next to her on a crate while she looks out the window and she sees a silhouette of a small shuttle heading to the docking bay. She looks as the freighter, which is a long six-sided ship with exhausts on the bottom and back and on the front is a pointed nose. The brownish freighter is linked to the bay as the docking bay doors open to reveal people walking out from all different origins, looking for opportunity on Omega as many do before their lives fall into chaos.

Rhea however is looking to get off this station as she has had enough of this place without being here a week. But the other thing on her mind is Krieg and what do now as she can now make her choice whether to go with or without him but is still stuck in her decision. The past few days she has bonded with him more than she hoped for and was beginning to feel deeper feeling for the alien from the unknown. However her concentration is broken as she feels a tap on her shoulder, she turns and sees Krieg standing in front of her with a smirk, causing her to smile back and give him a light hug.

"Hey" she says looking down shyly.

"Hey, are you all packed?" he asks.

"Yeah, I've got all I need." she looks at her bag, "Listen, Krieg-"

"Hey greyskin!" both Krieg and Rhea turn to see Agon, with nothing but his armor and shotgun behind his back, "Nice shooting out there."

Krieg turns breaking his conversation with Rhea, "Thank you. How are you?"

"I'm good, Grav's dead, he won't be missed. There are more like him anyway for me to kill."

"What about you? What are you doing now?" Krieg questions.

"Well at this time I need to be getting home. My superiors will want to talk about what happened here."

"Where do you have to go?" the grey alien asks.

"I can't tell you that. I'd like to but we want to keep our location unknown encase it gets to Citadel Space."

"Because of the genophage?" Rhea asks reluctantly.

Agon just smiles, "Something like that. I hope we'll fight again someday." he says shaking Krieg's hand and walking back into Omega.

Krieg raise an eyebrow, "Well, he wasn't so bad?"

"For a krogan maybe." Rhea says before getting back to what she was going to say, "Krieg, I need to talk to you."

Krieg turns to her, "You've made a decision, haven't you?" knowing form the tone of her voice.

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"I just wanted to say that you're a lot of trouble, and I know that if I stay with you I might get killed."

Krieg looks down, "I know, I was worried as much."

She continues, "But, I've always wanted an adventure." causes him to raise his head, "And I've always wanted to share it with someone."

Krieg smiles, "So I can tag along?"

She hugs him, "Of course." she grabs his hand and lead him to the ship, "Come on"

"Where are we going?"

"Who knows, but I get to choose this time." she says leading him onto the transport.

**2185- The Dark Star,****Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"So what happened next, where did you go?" asks Joker who by now has finished his drink and is just listening to Rhea.

"Well I did decide to stay with Krieg and what happened on Omega did make an impression on Aria." she says finishing her drink, "And the trouble we caused on Omega seemed to stay there as nearly everyone who crossed Krieg died, but normally of self-defence."

"Self-defence…right?" Joker says sarcastically, "So where did you go then?"

"Well our transport was heading into Council space. One of the few times a shuttle in the Terminus heads there."

"Who was on your transport?" Joker asks pouring himself another drink from the bottle which was nearly empty.

"People like me, people who wanted to leave the Terminus. Refugees mainly." she says taking a sip of what's left of her drink.

"Refugees? I thought it was illegal to smuggle people into Council Space?"

"It is, but who is going to stop them? You of all people should know the corruption that's even in 'Ordered Space'."

"I guess." Joker says taking another sip, "So where did you go?"

"Well the journey ended up being longer than I thought. We ended up staying on the ship for eleven months"

"Eleven months?" Joker can't believe someone would stay on there that long, "What made you stay there?"

"Well despite smuggling being illegal, it was nice place to stay. The crew was friendly and helping people is always fulfilling?" Rhea takes another sip before lighting a cigarette, "You see the majority of people we smuggled were people who wanted to get away from the Terminus Systems, because it wasn't safe to work there, to raise families."

"And what happened to end it all?" Joker asks.

"We were caught, by a justicar."

"A justicar?" Joker knows of them one was recruited by Shepard not long ago.

"One you're familiar with?" she becomes more specific.

"You mean-?" Joker realises who.

"Samara. Yes, but it is more complicated than that."

"It always is." Joker smiles as he finishes his glass.


	4. Justice has many Definitions

**Chapter IV: Justice has many Definitions**

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea is sitting in her usual place and has just told Joker that the next part of her story involves the jusitcar known as Samara, one of Shepard's recruits on the mission to the Collector base. Joker is in the bathroom of the Dark Star, taking a leak in the urinal as the amount of whiskey he has drank has needed him to release himself. He has just started to urinate as a turian next to him does the same.

He is pro-occupied on Samara's role in Rhea's story. He wonders what could possibly make some like Samara board a refugee freighter like Rhea described. Whatever it was it must have been for a good reason as he does up his zip and heads out of the restroom. Seeing the customs of all origins dancing he can't help but feel a bit left out on the fact that dancing the way some of the humans do could break his limbs in a second. Joker turns towards Rhea's direction smoking one of her cigarettes. He signals to the bartender to bring another bottle over to where he was sitting and pours himself another drink.

Around this time he would have been drunk but because of the story, he hadn't noticed and was too preoccupied to care as Rhea takes a smoke of her cigarette before balancing it on the ashtray next to her. The bartender was getting tired of wiping the ash from the table in the booth so provided it for her. She reaches into her belt and takes a small device from one of her pouches and activates it. Joker looks at the device and at her thinking that it might be just a communicator as she puts it back and she looks at him.

"Anything I should know?" Joker smiles not expecting an answer.

"Oh, I was just looking at the stock market that's all." she answers like she is hiding something.

"Stock market, why?" he asks her further.

"I like to keep track of what's hot and what's not?" she smiles as it is said in a flirting tone.

"So before I went to bathroom, you said that Samara boarded this refugee ship of yours, why?"

"When I saw her I asked myself the same question. I knew that she wouldn't take kindly to my employer, Vlax's and his operation but something got her to board nevertheless."

"So you must have been scared?" Joker implies knowing exactly what a justicar is like at times.

"Well not exactly, I was aware of what they were really like because of the way was raised but you're right, I was a little scared."

"For yourself?" he wonders.

"Myself, and my friends on board. Krieg wasn't the only person I bonded with while we travelled together."…

**06/05/2156- The Dirt-Boat, Borders of Asari Space**

It had been eleven months since Omega and Rhea decided to stay with Krieg and his quest into nowhere. Despite the fact that he was a mysterious person his agenda since she meet him has always been secret and never bothered to ask. She didn't ask because she didn't want to pry and if she did, she was afraid of being too curious and might get on the wrong side of him. Though it was impossible for Krieg as he found comfort in Rhea by his side though being on a smuggling ship wasn't exactly guns blazing and excitement but the risk was high enough but Rhea was safe, which was all that mattered to him.

Since their time on Omega things hadn't evolved in terms of their 'relationship' though hints were given from time to time as he did remember Aria refer to her as his girlfriend. He entertained the thought every so often yet didn't act because over the eleven months more emotions had become new to him. Though he was fully grown and an adult in any races perception he was always finding something new that a person 'born' would take for granted at his stage because they have already developed such emotions and naturally learned to control them. It was because of this that he hadn't acted on pursuing anything romantic because he didn't understand the full nature of what it was to be romantic, though that moment he spent with her in that small room on Omega always replayed when he closed his eyes.

The ship they boarded was called the Dirt-Boat; the origin of why it was called that is long forgotten. All that is known is that only a batarian would name their ships in this fashion. Ironically the brown six-sided-freighter, about two stories and had a pointed nose with exhausts on the bottom and rear. It was owned by a Batarian named Vlax who sat at the helm of the ship on the top deck. The cockpit was crammed as the ship was a cargo freighter and had three chairs, the pilots chair in front where he was surround by all of its controls and two support chairs behind and a walkway in-between those chairs.

Vlax sat in the pilot's chair and looked like most batarians, having four eyes and wore red medium armour, custom made. Sitting on the portside chair behind him was his son, who was only young and not much bigger than a human ten year old. His name was Vaden and he wore black boots with orange jumpsuit. Sitting on the other chair was a turian only this one was female. Female turians weren't seen as much as males though that had the same rights as them, though there body were more slender in terms of their waists and size. Her name was Juna and she was a beige colour with her skin giving a little reflective affect but red markings around her eyes. Her collar was also smaller compared to a male's armour as she was wearing light armor in a blue color. She was the second in command other ship replacing Vlax whenever he needed to rest.

"Approaching Illium in seven hours Vlax" she says typing in the co-ordinates.

He turns to face her, "Alright, how are things going back down below?"

"Good from what I've seen. Rhea's taking care of them."

"I tell you; since she has been here things have been so much easier."

"Yeah, tell me about it. But her friend Krieg freaks me out a little." she says looking back at some of her controls.

"Why's that?"

"Well, I've been in the terminus for a while now, and I've never seen one of his kind before."

"Nether have I, I thought he was a drell originally but after taking that family from the Eagle Nebula, I'm not so sure." he says taking a sip of a bottle on the side table next to him, "But who cares, really?"

"What do you think he is?" she asks still typing in her console.

"Well I think that he might be one of them experiments the salarians do, you know what they're like, messing with everyone elses DNA except their own."

"Why do you say that, dad?" asks Vaden not really knowing what the conversation is about.

"I'll tell you when you older. Well, when I was young I heard the salarians once tried to make a hybrid of all species."

"I heard that too, it was just a rumour?" Juna states half-concentrating.

"Yeah, well imagine that. The genetic genes that are superior in every species mashed into one."

"Wonder what that would be like?" Juna says leaning back comfortably.

Vlax laughs, "Well I'd think that it would have to be strength of a Krogan, the speed of a Turian, the reflexes of a drell, the looks of an asari and four eyes of a batarian of course, for intelligence."

Juna laughs, "I can't believe you believe that"

Vlax lean over the left side of his chair and looks at her, "Look into my eyes and say that" he smiles, "Both pairs."

They both laugh as they get back to their duties in the cockpit. Vaden meanwhile gets off his chair and heads to the back where a door is. He enters into the crew quarters as the crew which were situated on the upper deck as well. Each bed built into the side of the ship, one single and a bunk-bed. Being a kid, Vaden had the top bunk while his dad seeped below. The other bed was Juna's as she was the only other pilot and needed to be close to the cockpit though someone was always at the helm at all times.

Down the hallway are two other rooms, the first was a bathroom on the left while at end is a small medical bay which isn't the best but was good enough for Rhea who situated herself there instead of down below. The reason while she stayed inside the medical bay was because she was a trained medic, one of the main reasons why Eclipse took her on as she was seen as an asset to wounded troopers though her talents weren't exactly put to use as Eclipse were used to losing numbers not maintaining them.

Krieg didn't know her enterprise into medicine extensively until he boarded the Dirt-Boat with her as she would take care of the children who were sick or treat wounds that hadn't healed properly from poor treatment. She rationed food as well for the passengers who were on the level below which was linked by a ramp opposite the bathroom. As the ship was a cargo ship, the bay was bigger than the crew quarters for storage reasons. There was another member of the crew in the cargo hold who had a room in the far front corner of the Starboard side of the ship.

It was a small kitchen but enough for the cook on board the ship, another turian called Ridian who was dark red and was wearing civilian clothing, a beige cloth material with blue lining which had the collar that the turians were famous for. He is also wearing a blue vest as well. He was a talented cook who could prepare food for both kinds of alien, those who are built on dextro-acids like his kind and quarians and food for everyone else. The ship was set out like a small town as the cargo crates were open but had lights hanging off them and cushioning for sleep, nothing more but it was all they can give to those wanting to travel.

There were about twelve in two rows of five looking opposite each other and two next to the kitchen. At this time each crate was full as the first row had a pair of Salarians were sleeping, the next a krogan fixing his assault rifle and batarian refugees in the next three. On the opposite side was a family of drell, a pair of armoured asari looking for quick transport to illium, a turian with the same agenda and then an asari keeping to herself with the light off above her. The one next to the kitchen was Ridian's bed while the other belonged to Krieg who spent most of his time in the engine room where he sits at his workbench most of the time playing with bits of scrap that he collected from various stations that they would pass while transporting people.

Krieg is sitting at his workbench and has various scrap on the desk mainly from his pair of pistols which he has since taken apart piece by piece. He isn't bothered that he has no weapons for he is researching into modifying his weapons so that they are more effective. On the bench is also the small gyroscope item that he normally keeps in a pouch on his belt, which is hanged up in the locker next to bench along with his jacket. He picks it up and looks at it again as it starts and the rings start to move around like a mass relay, though he knows what it looks like but doesn't know what its use is for.

He knows that the 'Token' as he calls it is valuable to him, but doesn't know exactly why as he puts it back into his belt pouch and sits back down as he begins again working on his pistols. He has made credits by repairing weapons for various mercenaries and making them more efficient so he can buy more scrap. As he continues, Rhea comes down and pokes her head around the corner to see his back turned.

"Krieg?" she says softly trying not to startle him.

He puts down his tools and turns around, "Hey."

She walks around the corner. Her attire has changed since Omega as she now wears black pants and boots with a blue lab coat similar to what medical officer's wear, with a white upper half. She has cup in her hand, "I brought you something to drink."

He smiles as he reaches for the cup and takes a sip, "Thanks." He says as he turns around and puts it on the table.

She approaches behind him as she puts her on his shoulder in a casual fashion, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing really, just trying to upgrade these things." he answers.

"That's what you do most of the time." she smiles.

"Well there isn't much to do here, but the work keeps me occupied."

She grips a little harder on his shoulder as he tenses a little, "Listen, Ridian will have some food ready soon. I was wondering if you would join me in the medical bay, just the two of us?"

"Err…no thanks, I quiet happy here." he doesn't read the signal she is trying to send.

She loosens the grip, "Oh, okay. I'll see you later then, maybe." and heads out the door.

About half an hour later, Ridian is in the kitchen at the stove where he is stirring two pots with a yellow soup inside. He stops as he takes a bowl and pours a few spoonful's into the bowl and hands it down to a drell child who takes it and heads out the door. He then takes another bowl and begins to scoop more soup and puts it on the inside ready for the next customer, who happens to be Krieg. The grey alien walks over to a counter and washes his hands in the sink before taking a bowl as well as a soupspoon from one of the draws and leans on one of the units as he eats. Ridian stop stirring leans against the wall.

"How's the work coming along?" he asks in a friendly tone.

Krieg looks at him, "Fine, trying to find a way to stop over-heating though."

Ridian shakes his head, "You know Rhea was in here earlier. She seemed pretty bummed about something."

"What?" Krieg looks up while saying this.

The turian shrugs, "You tell me, you just spoke to her?"

Krieg shrugs as well, "Can't see why she was sad at me for. She asked what I was doing and then she asked if I would join her in the medical bay to eat later."

Ridian raises an eyebrow, "And what did you say?" asking with interest.

"Nothing, I said no thanks."

Ridian chuckles a bit before turning back to his stirring, "You are so blind."

Krieg attention is caught by this statement, "What do you mean?"

Ridian smiles, "Can't you see it? She likes you."

"Likes me? Of course she likes me, we're friends" Krieg says this with innocence while he continues to eat.

"Well I'm no consort but I think she wants to be more than friends." he continues to smile.

The thought goes through Krieg's mind, "More than friends?"

"Well I weren't going say anything to you but, I was thinking about taking a shot at her when you decided to stay on board." Ridian says as Juna walks into the kitchen and helps herself to a bowl of soup, her face looking at the bowl but her eyes looking at him as she leaves the room and heads back upstairs, "But…I had other interests" he smiles.

"Why would you be attracted to Rhea?"

"What part of the galaxy are you from Krieg? She's an asari. Everyone wants a piece of that fine fringe. But when I saw the way she looks at you, I didn't bother. Anyway I better get to work" he says giving him another bowl, "Speaking of asari, can you give this to the one out there. She hasn't had anything since she boarded."

Krieg takes the bowl from Ridian and holds it in free hand and walks out of the kitchen and down the cargo hold, passing the various aliens before stopping at the one until last where the light is out and the asari is sitting on the chair, with no light revealing her except for a red high-heeled boot poking out into the small amount of light that fills the cargo bay. "Excuse me, the chef told me to bring you this."

A hand reaches out and takes the bowl from him, "Thank you" a cold female voice answers.

"If there is anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask." he says and walks back to his room and sits back down at his workbench as he places the bowl in front of him.

Rhea is in her small medical bay while Krieg is downstairs and is thinking about what just happened between them. She feels low because she doubts that he is interested in her, though she knows that he treasures their friendship while at the same times wants something more but the other factor that nothing has happened between them is the cramped space of the ship. With six people and numerous strangers, it isn't exactly the most private of places.

She is currently sitting on a chair next to a small desk as she eats her soup and continues to eat it. Down the hallway in the cockpit, Vaden the little batarian is sitting on the chair to Vlax's right as he is still at the helm but is rubbing all four of his eyes as he has been there for twelve hours. Juna is approaching the cockpit as Vlax gets out the chair and Juna replaces him at the helm as he heads to his bed in the next room behind them and Vaden does the same as he climbs on the top bunk and both try to get some sleep. Juna continues to pilot as Rhea sits in the chair behind to her right. She folds her arms in discomfort like there is something on her mind.

"You okay, Rhea?" Juna asks as she holds the controls.

Rhea smiles, "Yeah, been better though."

"Oh, how so?" she asks curiously.

"It's Krieg." she mumbles.

Juna smiles in interest, "Really?"

Rhea gets the reference, "Shut up." and smiles.

"What? You don't think I can tell?" Juna says chuckling, "You may be older than me Rhea, but you're not as experienced when it comes to the mushy stuff."

"Really, is that why you've been eyeing Ridian in the kitchen every time I've been there?" Rhea feels triumphant in this statement.

Juna shakes her head, "That's different, and we're more mature."

"Yeah right?" Rhea chuckles.

Juna turn her head towards Rhea, "Unlike you, who's got a little crush."

Rhea is taken aback, "It's not a crush."

"Then what is it then?" she raises an eyebrow.

Rhea sighs and leans back, "I don't know, he's just a bit-"

"Mysterious?" Juna knew exactly what to say.

"Yeah."

"Where did you meet him?" Juna gets curious.

Rhea hesitates "Why do you ask?"

"Well, no offence but I've never seen one of his kind before. I was just interested. He seems like a nice guy"

"He is, well I kind of found him by accident."

Juna turns back to a pilot position, "By Accident?"

"Yeah, I used to work for Eclipse and he was encased in a ship-type thing that looked like an ancient artefact."

"You mean a prothean artefact?" Juna takes a sip of a drink on the counter next to her while at the helm.

"I think so. Anyway, he woke up killed everyone on board. And was naked the whole time"

"Naked? How good did he look?" she jokes.

Rhea smiles remembering back, "Not bad." they both laugh before she continues, "Well after that we had a few problems on Omega and then jumped on here, and we haven't looked back since."

"Sounds romantic." Juna says while typing into her console.

"Yeah, I guess." Rhea sighs.

Juna lightens the mood, "So is it his body that you're attracted too?"

Rhea laughs and gets up, "Sort of." and walks back to the medical bay on the other side of the ship.

Down in the cargo bay Ridian is heading into his home, the crate nearest the kitchen. Getting on the floor he lies down and gets comfortable by lying on his side and turning the light off afterwards. Krieg was still in his workshop and has almost put his pistol back together though he doesn't know if he will take it apart again after he has some sleep and returns to it. He puts in the last piece in the pistol and decides to finish for the time being and gets up, switching the light off by his workbench.

He gets up he walks out the room and into the cargo hold where he walks past the various passengers and walks up the ramp. Heading towards the medical bay he sees Rhea sleeping on the medical table. She didn't plan this but she found the hard metal board comfortable. She has some of her blanket on her though most of it is hanging off. He walks up to her and picks the sheet and wraps it round her. She is too tired to wake up as he covers her and she smiles in comfort. He then heads out and down the hallway passing the Vlax and Vaden sleeping in their beds while Krieg sits in the cockpit where Rhea sat before him.

Juna is still at the helm, "Hey Krieg, what are you doing up here?"

"Nothing, thought I would try and catch Rhea before she went to bed." he says looking outside the window into space.

"Did you?" she asks.

Krieg continues staring out into space, "No she was a sleep. I just tucked her in."

"Aww, how cute." she smiles.

He smiles getting the sarcasm but when he is about to speak he hears loud thud coming from downstairs, "What was that?"

Juna turns around from her chair and looks to towards the back, "Can you check that out?"

"Sure."

Krieg gets up and heads down the hallway. Vaden has woken up because of the noise but Vlax just ignores it as he turns over and continues to sleep. Rhea has also woken up as she gets up and looks from the door way as Krieg heads down the ramp to see that one of the passengers, a krogan was just killed by the asari opposite him with no marks on his body, just it lying in his crate dead.

The asari now reveals herself in her leather-clad armour and has a biotic aura about her; immediately Krieg fire a biotic push towards her as she is flung back but only a little though she is amazed by the power of the blast. The other passengers begin to head into Krieg's workshop in fear of getting caught between the two. Ridian protects them holding an assault rifle but is worried about the possible damage that the two of them could cause to the ship which was only a cargo freighter-standard at best. Krieg then has to defend from the Asari's push, which was much stronger as he is flung back into the kitchen.

"Stand down creature, or I will have to kill you." the Asari states in a harsh tone.

"Have to or want to?"

"I don't want to kill you, but attacking me is against the code and I must defend myself."

"Krieg, stand down!" Rhea says worried for her friend as she heads down the ramp.

"Rhea?" Krieg says in confusion.

"She's a Justicar!" Rhea states as the asari turns her head in recognition.

"A what?" he asks trying to struggle free.

"It doesn't matter, just give up!" she insists as the asari Justicar remains calm.

"I, I can't." is all he says, struggling.

"I'm sorry." the Justicar says about to kill him.

"NO!" Rhea says using her biotic power to grasp the Jusiticar and flings her back again as she hits the wall but isn't knocked out.

"RHEA!" Krieg shouts as he gets up and runs to her lying body; he rests her head on his knees.

The Justicar gets up and stands as she watches Krieg cradles Rhea while Ridian also comes to her aid, checking her. Krieg looks up and stares her right in the eye as she remains frozen.

"She's conscious, but we should get upstairs." Ridian states.

"Nobody move." the Jusitcar says holding her hands ready to use her biotics.

"We need to get her upstairs, now!" Ridian pleads.

She looks at Rhea's body and back to the turian, "Take her, but the other one stays." referring to Krieg.

Ridian nods as he crouches by Krieg trying to pick her up, "It's okay. I've got her." he says getting up and holding her in his arms as he heads up the ramp.

Krieg stands and looks back at the asari Justicar, "Why did you kill that krogan?"

"I had been tracking him for weeks. He was transporting narcotics into Asari Space, causing countless deaths."

"Why couldn't you have waited until he got off board?"

"He was asleep, the perfect moment to strike. If he had realised who I was, then more would be dead." she says looking at the corps.

"Who are you exactly?"

"My name Samara, like your friend stated I am a Justicar."

"Are you some sort of spy?"

She smiles at the thought, "My presence in asari space wouldn't make me qualified as a spy."

"A vigilante then?"

"Of sorts, though those who dare stop me from doing my duty would effectively be dead for interfering in my duties."

"What about me and her?"

"You attacked me. I had to defend myself, but I would have let go if you had stopped as you were oblivious to the situation, innocent if you will."

"And Rhea?"

"She was defending you, but her biotics were unstable, unused almost." she looks around to see the various passengers standing around.

The commotion has reached upstairs as Vlax walks down holding his head not paying attention until he sees Samara, "What's going on?"

"This asari killed that krogan. She claims he was a narcotics smuggler?"

"Yeah, and?" Vlax says catching her attention.

"You knew this, batarian?" Samara approaches him.

"Yeah, most people on this ship are criminals." Vlax says rubbing all four of his eyes.

"Then you are an accessory to the crimes committed, and must be dealt with." she states.

"Wait" Krieg says worried about his friend, "You can't kill him, he owns this ship"

"Sorry, but he must be brought to justice for bringing criminals into Asari space."

Krieg sighs frantically as he sees the young Vaden watching. The child runs down and stands in front of his dad, "Leave him alone!" he shouts in his small voice.

"Move out of the way child." Samara demands as she raises her hand ready to use her biotics.

"Don't hurt my dad." the boy says.

This takes Samara aback and she puts her hand down, "This is your father?" she looks at Vlax and Krieg as they are both waiting for her next move.

"I thought you were ready to kill him?" asks Krieg.

Samara looks down, "I can't kill this criminal in front of a child, his child."

"Why? You were happy enough to kill him." Krieg refers to the dead Krogan.

"Yes but I didn't know anything about him. Any ties that might jeopardize my decision, my code orders me to kill but also forbids me under this circumstance."

"So what? I can go free from death?" Vlax asks, hoping for relief.

"No, but I can give time to find an alternative." she states.

"What kind of alternative?" Krieg asks.

"This batarian smuggles criminals and knows they are criminals, an accessory to the crimes they're responsible for one way or the other." Samara walk around them, "But if you on this ship can find an alternative I will reframe from this act, as he hasn't directly committed a crime."

"I thought smuggling was illegal?" Krieg says with knowledge of the truth.

"Yes, but everyone else on board is innocent for now looking for a new place to live, I can't deny them that hope."

Krieg expression is a raised eyebrow, before he continues questioning, "But you caused fear instead, and yet you don't feel guilt for it?"

"It is burden of being a Justicar. I must expect the worst opinions but it can't affect my resolve." she says looking away.

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker is leaning back on his seat while Rhea continues to smoke, "So you had time from Samara to find an alternative to Vlax smuggling criminals?"

"We didn't know anything about anyone when they boarded, only Vlax." She sighs, "He wasn't a bad guy, and he didn't tell us about criminals for our own safety but this would creep up on him eventually, and Samara was the one to do it?"

"What about your Krieg?" Joker asks with sarcasm.

"He was cautious, unlike me he couldn't understand what a Justicar was, as she doesn't have real jurisdiction on her activities, they're just tolerated as you know." referring to Joker's past experiences.

"Sure, no point arguing if she gets the job done" says Joker through experience of being on board with a spectre, "So what happened to you?"

"What in that attack? I'll be honest I wasn't a very talented biotic. That's why I wasn't a good mercenary perhaps." she reminisces.

"So how come you fainted when you used them?" Joker asks leaning forward.

"Not using them over time can become exhausting when attempting to use them it again, that's why asari train extensively."

"Did you sleep through whole thing?" Joker chuckles at the thought like if he were asleep during the attack on the citadel.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"So what did happen?"

"Well from what I know…"….

**06/05/2156- The Dirt-Boat, Borders of Asari Space**

It's been a few hours and the ship is in utter silence. The atmosphere inside is just as empty as the endless space that surrounds them as the various passengers sit in their respective make-shift homes, trying to keep to themselves while Samara sits between them in a meditating position. Her eyes are glowing and there is a blue aura around her. In the medical bay Rhea is lying on the table resting peacefully as Krieg sits next to her and just watches. Ridian is standing in the door way wiping his hands with a cloth as he walks forward and gets a good look at her.

Juna is still at the pilot controls while Vlax sits on his bed in the room behind the cockpit and his son sits on his bunk not knowing what to say but he was young so there was nothing he could say. He gets off and heads down the hallway and stands in the door way as he sees Krieg looking at Rhea. Ridian turns and smiles as he leaves and pats the little batarian on the head while the child heads inside and looks at her.

"Will she be okay, Krieg?" The child asks.

The grey alien of no origin turn and smiles, "Yeah, she'll be fine."

"Who is that lady down there?" the child asks innocently.

Krieg thinks for a second as he gets up, "Trouble." and walks out leaving Vaden alone.

Samara continues to mediate as she doesn't look at the other passengers. She does however stop and stands up to turn and see Krieg standing behind her, "You have more questions?"

He gives her a simple, "Yes."

"Then I will answer them?" she stands forward.

Krieg starts with something simple, "How come no one has ever stopped you? Killing people is unethical after all."

"Says a person ready to kill to defend himself. My job is bring people to justice and some people don't deserve life in the name of it?" she justifies as she looks away.

"And your people have no problem with this?" Krieg walks around circling her.

"They understand, and they except us for who we are" she remains still.

He stops, "Listen, I am willing to exchange my life for Vlax's if you let him go"

She stands tall, "Impossible. You have done nothing wrong from what I have seen, though attacking me was generally rude."

"But I have, I will confess to every soul I have taken in order to save his life." he thinks about those he killed eleven months ago.

"You would do that for him?" Samara asks him.

"I would do it for his son, a boy that age needs a parent." Krieg looks down as he understands the role of a father is important somehow.

Samara looks at him, "Follow me." she says as he follows. The two of them into the workshop where Krieg spends most of his time.

"Why are we here?" Krieg says curious of her strange request.

"Your offer intrigues me, and I wish to pursue this option. But I must enter you mind in order to see if you are telling the truth?"

Krieg hesitates for a second, "Okay, what must I do?"

"Just sit down on the chair and relax." as she remains frozen and her cold voice giving instruction.

He obeys as he sits at his work bench and tries hard to relax, though with the current situation stress is all over him. Rhea, Vlax and the passengers safety cover his mind as he begins to feel the entry of Samara as she stands behind and hold her hand by the sides of his head, glowing as her eyes do the same as the journey into his mind is about to begin. He is completely calm at this point and his body isn't tense at all giving Samara easier accesses to the core of his mind.

_Inside however is a very different scene as Samara stand in the middle of an endless black space. She is in the mind of Krieg. She begins with his birth, that of when he was awakened on the Eclipse Ship and had to absorb information from Rhea, his first meeting with and his most fond of memories. She understood why he was so caring of her he had a sense of duty to protect that in which he stole from. She carries on further as she watches the brutal massacre of the Gorban and his mercenaries on the ship as they tried to 'feed' Rhea to him. _

_Instead of a massacre, despites the endless bloodshed, she can only see the justice that he had done for her as what they did was a sacrifice. She digs deeper and finds his massacre of the Bloodpack and Eclipse outside Aria T'Loak's club as he slaughters them in the name of salvation, not destruction so she can't find anything of real value to justify him sacrificing his life. _

_However there is blackness of his mind baring a small flicker far away. She approaches the light, which resembles a star in the middle of dark space. She touches the star and cause a great explosion as the empty space becomes full of flashing blue and various images she can't make out. Hearing noise in the back of her head she turns around and finds nothing and begins to fear what lurks within his mind and her path becomes more a struggle, like Krieg was trying to remember something important. She sees an image coming towards her as her eye widen. The shape is that of the squid monster as it approaches, dwarfing her as it stares back, though it doesn't have eyes it still stares._

_"DESTRUCTION IS UNAVOIDABLE!" it whispers but to Samara and feels like a thousand screams as she hears it again, "ABORT THIS MIND!" and she obeys as she escapes the nightmare and wakes up._

She is taken aback as the sight of the shape causes her to hold the wall and gasp for air, "What was that?"

Krieg shared the memories with her, "I don't know. It's not first time I have seen it though." he says with innocence.

She get her composure back and stands tall, "Despite the horror that seems to plague you mind silently, I'm afraid that you cannot exchange your life for his. I sorry" she says walking out holding her head in pain.

Ridian walks past her and walks into the room to see Krieg, "What happened?"

Krieg thinks before saying, "Nothing."

"Well, whatever it is, it can wait. Juna wants to see us upstairs." he says before leaving.

About twenty minutes later and the crew are on the top deck of the ship where Juna, Vlax and Vaden sleep. They are all cramped in one space minus Rhea who is still asleep in the medical bay. Krieg stands nearest the room to keep an eye on her while Ridian sits on a chair next to him. Vlax sits on his bed and Vaden on the top bunk above while Juna enters the room from the cockpit where she has put on the autopilot. She remains standing while the rest of crew look at her.

"Listen, I might have a way to save Vlax's life but you have to hear it out first." she says catching their attention.

"So, what is it?" Vlax anticipates a good answer to his problems.

She hesitates before asking, "I know the location of a stronghold in Asari Space that that Krogan was delivering drugs to."

Vlax is taken aback, "What? How? You didn't even know he was a dealer?"

Juna shrugs in hope of sympathy, "Well I kind of did. You see I'm sort of in the business with him."

Ridian glares in disgust, "What did you say?"

She puts her hands up, "Hear me out, Ridian?"

"You're a drug dealer?" he further questions.

Her face turns to shame, "I don't do it, I just deliver it. Those crates that I pick up during pit stops, I kept them safe and I was meant to give them to him when he got off the ship."

"How long has this been going on?" Vlax asks trying to ease the tension.

"Awhile, not long after I joined you guys." She confesses.

"Is that why you were so eager to join us?" Ridian asks before Vlax can interfere.

"Sort of, but there is-"

"Save it, I don't want hear anymore." Ridian stands, "You have dishonoured turians everywhere, Juna. Sure, I might be a part of smuggling ship, but I don't play with people's lives."

Vlax gets up as well, "Why didn't tell us? You put all in danger?"

She looks down, "I had my reasons, but now I have a chance to make up for my mistakes."

"How?" Krieg asks not impressed but knows that Juna might have something of value to help Vlax.

"Well, I give her the location of the base."

"How will that help me?" Vlax asks getting frustrated.

She steps forward, "She might find it a good exchange and go with it?"

"What about you?" Krieg asks.

"What about me?" Juna asks back.

He gets his point across, "Well what if she finds out that you are a dealer as well?"

"She won't, trust me." Juna looks around for approval which is responded by nods from Vlax and Krieg respectively.

Later on in Krieg's workshop, Ridian is sitting at Krieg's workbench with his head in his hands as he can't believe his luck as the women he cares about ends up being a drug dealer. He smacks the table with his left hand as his expression turns to anger as he gets up an sees Krieg leaning in the doorway, watching him as he know why he is angry but would rather let Ridian take it out on an object before speaking to him. However Ridian looks away as he knew that he overacted in that situation, which is Vlax's not his.

"You finished Ridian?" he asks walking in the room and sitting on his chair and leans back on the bench with his left arm.

"Guess you think I was out of order?" Ridian calms down a little.

"Ridian, you worked on the Terminus longer than I have. You didn't expect this?"

Ridian sighs, "Well, yeah. But me a Juna grew close and to find out about this is-"

"Heart-breaking?" Krieg finishes the sentence for him.

Ridian looks down, "Yeah something like that. You know, before I came on this ship I was in the military and once we were on a shakedown on the authority of the Hierarchy to take out a base, where drug were being manufactured."

"Past experiences coming back to haunt you?" Krieg asks as he has memories that haunt him as well.

"Sort of, the mission was a success but I saw things that never leave your mind. It wasn't long after my service ended that I heard my friend was shot trying to deal the stuff to minors of all people." He gets riled up again.

Krieg raises an eyebrow, "You have a strong opinion on drugs?"

"Listen; after my friend died I couldn't condone use of the stuff let alone dealing in it. It hurts everyone around you rather than yourself." Ridian has finished as Juna enters the room along with Samara, "So, what's happening?"

Samara looks at Juna, "The information that Juna has provided is too valuable for me to ignore, her story seems to make sense as I understand that you workers have to make a living as well."

"So Vlax goes free?" Ridian cross his arms expecting an answer.

"Yes. But on the condition that he quits his current occupation."

"That's for him to decide." Krieg says.

"I think the way things are now, he will agree." Samara is about to turn around before adding, "Oh, and the passengers will come with me to the space station by the Mass Relay your heading."

"I suppose that's safer, and they'll be in Citadel space anyway." Krieg states as the two women leave to tell Vlax upstairs.

The two of them look at each other and are surprised with the outcome as Ridian leaves the workshop to see Vlax get the good news and bad news. Krieg however remains seated as he continues to think about the moment that Samara entered he mind and tries to think why the creature in his head is so important and why he can't remember it. The creature had significance yet at the same time had no name, place or origin that the grey alien could think of.

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker and Rhea continue to stay seated as the turian bartender brings over a few shots as the pair has since moved on to something different as the whiskey was Joker choice. He picks up the glass and sees the purple liquid and looks at it as he raises the glass before gulping it down in one but it doesn't matter as Rhea orders multiple ones. Rhea puts another cigarette in her mouth and lights it before continuing.

Joker puts the glass on the table, "So that's what happened, Juna traded the necessary information and Vlax got off lucky?"

"Yeah, pretty much Vlax was happy, for a short time." Rhea answers.

"Did he quit smuggling then?"

"Well sort of. We ran into trouble as we were heading back to the Terminus systems."...

**08/05/2156- Space-Station docking bay, Tasale System, Crescent Nebula**

The Dirt-Boat has docked at an Asari space port. The silver space station itself is a wonder but is still small when comparing it to Omega or the Citadel as it was only about the size of a fuel depot. The ship was connected via a link with the bottom half and the docking bay doors lead to a small foyer with grey walls and a door to the right. It also had a view of space but it is at this moment being blocked by the ship, though part of a mass relay can be seen not far from the stations position.

The doors open so the walkway is passable as the first person to walks out is Samara, in her cold appearance as usual but many see her compassion as she helps the passengers of all origins off board, the turians, salarians, volus, drell, the other asari and batarians that were boarded as they wait in the foyer for Samara to lead them into appropriate accommodation. Following them is the crew consisting of Krieg, still wearing his attire only this time with his armoured jacket, Vlax and Vaden who the latter stands in front of his father and finally Juna, who without her this compromise hadn't of been possible.

Samara faces the four of them, "There is something I must say before we part. Thank you."

"Thank us, for what?" Vlax ask confused as Samara a few days ago was going to kill him.

"For your hospitality. Despite the situation you were all good to me while I was on board, and it would be rude of me not to express gratitude." She smiles for the first time.

Vlax speaks in return, "Well, thanks for not killing me. Come on Vadon, let's get back on board." Vlax leads his son back on board. The Justicar looks at Juna who nods to Samara as a salient goodbye. She then follows the two of them back to the ship as well.

Samara looks at Krieg the only remaining crewmember, "Well this is goodbye."

"I guess it is." he says looking at her not knowing what to say, "Listen Samara, about my mind I-"

"You have no need to explain to me, there is obviously something unique about what I saw and something about you which is unique." She nods, "Whatever that demon is, it isn't you. Goodbye Krieg and take care of yourself and her as well." referring to Rhea.

"I will. Thank you." he nods as he boards while Samara tends to the former passengers.

He looks at the unique individual one more time before he turns around and walks back on board the ship. The link is broken and the exhausts activate as the ship hovers away from the station and is ready to approach the Mass Relay.

On board within the medical bay, Rhea is still on the bed and is sleeping peacefully as Krieg enters the small room and sits next to her and looks at her peaceful face. He raises his hand and places it on her cheek and strokes it a little, she responds by holding his hand as her eyes begin to flutter open as she rubs them with her freehand. Krieg stands over her smiling as she looks at him and smiles back as she sits up a little.

"Hey." is all she says.

"Are you okay?" he asks still holding her hand.

"Yeah, I am now?" she says sitting up and hugging her friend.

"Rhea, rest." Krieg says trying to lower her back to a lying position.

"I'm okay, really." she says not noticing how close they face are to each other.

Krieg looks into her eyes as he tries to speak but has something else on his mind as he leans in and is about the connect his lips with hers but is interrupted by the rattling of the ship, "What was that?"

Rhea turn to the small window and get up, Krieg helping her as she walks across the room to look outside and see a dreadnaught outside in space approaching them, "It's a turian ship, they must of fired a warning shot?"

"Why?" he asks as he hasn't seen a ship like that before.

"Maybe they know who we are?" she proposes as the ship approaches closer.

"We haven't been caught before, maybe it's a routine patrol?" he suggests as he gets a better look.

Rhea shakes her head, "Way out here?"

The two of them hear a shot a shot from a pistol coming from down below as the two of them head straight down the ramps to see that the scene has drastically turned worse as Juna stands in front of them, pointing the pistol that fired the shot towards someone as Rhea looks at her with shock why Krieg looks in confusion.

Rhea sees that the shot fired went into Ridian's leg as he is lying on the floor in pain but the shock reframes him from screaming. The female turian allows the asari to approach the wounded male and aide him. Krieg walks down the ramp and continues his focus on her as she points the pistol at him as he is being the most able of the three present. This has also got the attention of Vlax who has come out of the cockpit as he walks down to see Juna pointing the gun and Ridian on the floor.

"Juna, what is the meaning of this?" Vlax demands an answer as Juna moves the gun towards him.

"You'll all under arrest" is all she says in response ready to pull the trigger.


	5. All Truth has some Consequence

**Chapter V: All Truth has some Consequence**

**08/05/2156- The Dirt-Boat, Tasale System, Crescent Nebula**

A revelation has come forth on the ship; the stench of betrayal fills the cargo bay where an unforeseen event has occurred. Juna holds a pistol towards her former captain ready to fire. Confused at the current situation he demands answers however these two are not the only ones at the scene as her first casualty was one of her own kind. Ridian is suffering from a gunshot wound to the right leg and it is bleeding while he sits up against one of the many crates the cargo bay and groans in pain while Rhea, the only trained medical professional on board is trying the best she can to clot the wound and prevent further loss of blood.

As Rhea is doing what she can Krieg does nothing but stands there between Vlax and Rhea tending the wounded with eyes focused on Juna completely as she was capable of killing anyone at this point if she shot Ridain in the leg without real cause but there was more to this than met the eye. Vlax continues to stand in front of her on the end of her barrel as she slowly steps towards him while he puts his hands up and slowly sits on the floor. She moves the direction of the gun to Krieg who does the same but leaves the other two, letting Rhea tend to Ridian.

The female turian walks to the opening that leads to the kitchen and enters with her gun still pointing towards their direction as she reaches for something on a nearby counter. She holds it in her left hand and throws it to Rhea's direction. The asari hears a thud on the ground and looks to see a medical bag that ship had supplied. She looks at her and Juna nods to indicate that she can take it and use it for her work, showing that the armed turian had some compassion. She then looks at the intercom on the wall by the opening and sees that it's switched off as she attempts to switch it on but all that can be heard is static.

"Shit!" is all she says closing the channel.

Vlax looks in her direction still sitting and angry because of the no reply to his question, "Are you going to tell us what the fuck is going on!" he asks.

She turns to him and leans against the wall, "As I said, you're under arrest."

"But you're a drug dealer, a criminal?" he states looking over to up the ramp to see if his son is safe and is staying out of this situation.

She smiles and leans against the wall, "Vlax, what do you take me for? Have you ever heard the term undercover?"

Vlax looks at her in disbelief and confusion, "Undercover since when?"

"A year." she leans off the wall and walks back to her previous position still holding the gun at the batarian but her elbow is flexed while pointing and she getting comfortable with the situation.

"What, since you have been on board?" he asks her in curiosity as he wonders how long she has lied to him.

"Of course, that would be about a year. Not long before Rhea and Krieg joined the crew." she states while looking at Rhea patching up Ridian's wound with a bandage.

The Asari looks up to her wanting to ask a question herself, "If you're undercover, who do you work for?"

"You're not one of those C-Sec agents are you? Those bastards have tried to catch me before?" Vlax adds to the question as he reveals some of his history in the process.

"No, I have a lot more jurisdiction than those assholes from C-sec. I have orders straight from the Council itself." she says this with pride like it is an achievement she wants to flaunt.

"A spectre." Vlax mumbles under his voice knowing that this was the worst possible scenario.

Krieg looks to Vlax for a second not knowing what he is talking about before looking back to Juna, "A spectre, what's that?"

Rhea looks up to him and answers for her, "They're agents of the Council. They do their dirty work."

"I wouldn't put it like that Rhea, we preserve order and stability to the Galaxy." the female turian ensures while looking around the cargo bay.

"How come we haven't seen you 'Spectres' in the Terminus systems?" Krieg asks with an intense interest as the he is fascinated with the sound of this prestigious title.

Juna turns back to Krieg, "Because the Terminus Systems are beyond the Council's jurisdiction and therefore don't have control of what happens there, so they send us instead?"

"And why are you here exactly?" Krieg asks knowing it's the right question.

She sighs in annoyance, "I was sent to infiltrate a Narcotics Syndicate that was bringing the substances onto Thessia, the asari homeworld."

Vlax is confused not knowing a simple fact, "So why did you board my ship? I don't deal drugs."

"But you transported the criminal-muscle across the border; very well in fact. So, I saw you as a way to infiltrate the ring. Posing as your crew I could speak to the major players directly, eventually getting them to trust me." Juna walks back to the intercom but continuing to point gun at Vlax.

"And take them down from within?" Rhea finishes knowing that it was a good plan.

She shrugs in a careless fashion like it was business, "Yeah, but it would take me a good while before they trusted me and I was able to fund them without suspicion."

Rhea looks at her in disgust while she continues helping Ridian, "You funded that dirty business."

"I had to look legit, otherwise they wouldn't have trusted me." Juna insists in an innocent voice.

Krieg continues the conversation, "So what happened to your operation? You gave all your information to Samara?" he asks knowing that Samara now knows the information she had including her position as an undercover dealer.

But Juna corrects him, "Only the location of the stronghold and the key players, but I didn't reveal my cover as one of them."

"So what did you say to her?" Rhea asks.

She smiles at her and shrugs, "I told her the truth, so to speak. I told her that I was a council Spectre and that I was gathering intel on them."

Rhea raises an eyebrow, "And she bought it?"

Juna chuckles at her while turning to Vlax, "She did, I saved your life Vlax and you should be thanking me."

Vlax groans at thought and looks away, "I'll pass on that one."

"So, if your job was to take them down why give the locations to Samara?" Rhea asks knowing that there was another motive.

Juna puts her left hand on her hip and continues to point at Vlax, "Unlike a Spectre in Asari space, Justicars are rarely questioned about their motives and therefore, no red tape"

Rhea realizes the truth of that fact, "She's right. When a Justicar kills another person it's normally a good reason." she explains to the others before turning back to her, "So you're letting her do your job?"

The spectre smiles in an expression of success, "Better than risking my life fighting them, maybe that bitch will die in the process." she expresses.

Krieg is ready to interrupt, "If your mission is complete, why hold us hostage now?"

The turian raises an eyebrow, "Your under arrest Krieg, I'm taking you back to the Citadel for smuggling illegal immigrants and criminals."

"Why? Your investigations finished?" Rhea replies knowing that Juna doesn't need to explain her methods to the Council.

Juna sighs as she explains in detail the other half of the deal, "Samara wouldn't just take the information unless I made a deal with her, I promised that I would arrest you as soon as we departed from her."

"Why? You lied to her once, why not do it again?" Rhea recollects as she helps Ridian onto his back and the injured turian lay's down. She raises his leg to bring circulation to his upper body.

"Because she would kill me if she found that one of you 'escaped'. I'm not taking that chance."

Krieg raises an eyebrow, "An exchange, that's understandable." he replies to the others disbelief.

Vlax sarcastically chuckles at the whole thing, "Yeah, for a Spectre. Willing to kill innocents to 'preserve' peace, you sicken me, fucking bitch."

"I would have done this a bit quieter if Ridian hadn't confronted me." she says looking at her fellow race lying on the ground.

"I would too, knowing what you did." Rhea says finished with Ridian as she lets him lay down while grabbing a small pillow to rest his head.

Juna chuckles for a second unconvinced, "Sure you would, little asari girl trying to play a big hero. Look what happened to him, you think that you wouldn't end up no different?"

Rhea looks down in shame knowing that she properly couldn't compete with a well-trained Spectre. She focuses on Ridian, "Are you okay?" she asks stroking the left side of his face.

"Yeah, feeling a bit woozy though." he replies as his eyes are closing due to the blood loss. He grabs her hand a squeezes it in gratitude as the two share a kind moment.

Krieg on the other hand is too pre-occupied to notice Rhea and Ridian as he steps forward causing Juna to point the gun at him as he begins to circle her, "It's strange Juna, you were ready to shoot Ridian as soon as your cover was blown but yet you haven't killed me?"

Juna holds the pistol with both her hands, "What of it?"

"Why? I thought you would kill me as I am the only biotic who can control their abilities on this ship?" he states knowing that Rhea can't control hers.

"When you came on this ship, I thought that you were one of the nomad races that aren't seen a lot but I checked. You weren't on any database, you're unique in that."

Rhea looks up at her after hearing this and stands up too, "What will you do with him?"

"I'm giving him to the Council." Juna states keeping her eyes on Krieg.

Rhea looks at Krieg who is has remained calm throughout the whole event, he crosses his arms and stays silent with the rest of the 'criminals' while up the ramp, hiding behind the corner is Vaden. Vlax's son has been witness to the whole thing and has listened the whole time but is too young to understand what was going on but knew that staying hidden was the best solution because his father told him too. He leans his head around the corner but only the top set of eyes to see that Juna is faced towards his direction and slightly to the left as Krieg is still in front of her. She notices a movement in the right side of her vision and sees the young batarians head hide again; she knows who it is as she smiles knowing that he is no real threat to her as she remains facing Krieg.

What she doesn't know however is that Vaden has a keepsake encase of an emergency such as this one as he holds in his left hand a pistol that his father gave him. He brings it up to his chest as his hand begins to shake in nervousness before taking a few breaths and turns the corner. Pointing the gun in Juna's direction he freezes and gives himself away long enough for Juna to notice and focus her attention on him as she move her gun and points at the child, about to pull the trigger to defend herself.

Vaden dives out the way onto the top of one of the crates as the bullet is fired past everyone and hits the top of the ramp. Vlax seizes the opportunity as he jumps for Juna and knocks the pistol out of her hand and the weapon ends up on the other side of the cargo hold, by Krieg's workshop. Juna recovers quickly and punches the adult batarian in the face with a right hook then an elbow to the stomach as he falls to the ground. She heads for the pistol but the attempt isn't worth it as Krieg uses his biotics to trap her as she begins floating around the hold.

Rhea meanwhile is attempting to get away from the action as she does her best to drag Ridain up the ramp. She is eventually helped by Vlax and then Vaden as the four of them enter the upstairs and lock the door behind them, leaving the female turian and Krieg alone.

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker remains intrigued of what he has just heard as Rhea remains silent throughout for a few seconds, having a cigarette in her right hand between her index and middle finger. The ash from the stick is hanging of the end as the smoke enters the air and begins to create an atmosphere of clouds around the two. She notices this and puts the cigarette out in the ash tray as she uses her now free hand to take a drink of the whiskey Joker and her

have been drinking, gulping it down in one and begins to feel its affects as she tries to keep her eyes open for a second and gets her composure back. Joker notices this but his attention on her is short as yet again a noise coming from her pouch as she takes out the device that she had out earlier and activates it, he still doesn't know what it is but believes it is some sort of Email. She puts it away again and smiles as she takes another cigarette and lights it. Joker takes another sip of his drink.

Rhea remains silent before speaking, "Yeah, I remember that day, I couldn't believe it."

"For sure, knowing that you have been in the presence of a council Spectre for eleven months can be quite the revelation." he replies.

"I liked Juna, she was a good friend to me during that time. Me and Krieg grew apart during that period and female company was good to have, but no one likes a liar." she takes a smoke.

"Sure" is all he says, knowing what she means as he thinks back to what the Illusive Man has put him through, "So what was the deal with Ridian and her, I thought you said they liked each other?"

"They did, despite Juna being a fucking bitch she did have a soft spot for him"

"Then what shoot him then, that doesn't sound like passion?"

"Despite her affection, she was a Spectre first and wouldn't put her emotions before her duty, when Ridian confronted her that bond was broken and she became the person she once was, ready to fight"

"But, Krieg finished her off?"

"No, not exactly…things were happening on the other ship that we couldn't control"…

**08/05/2156- Turian Dreadnaught,** **Tasale System, Crescent Nebula**

The turian dreadnaught looms not far away from the Dirt-Boat. The space station and the Mass Relay can be seen in the distance as the latter was the destination for Vlax ready to return to the Terminus Systems where he would have continued smuggling refugees. However Juna has since put a stop to that as she has revealed her true status to the crew and has subsequently betrayed them to the turians in the deal made with the Justicar Samara. That very ship was on the way to its location it had visual even on the bridge.

The bridge was substantially huge compared to the Dirt-Boat, having a half circle of five terminals used to pilot this titan and sitting at each one was a turian, wearing light Phantom armour that was in blue colour with green lights instead of the common red. This was turian military standard as they put a lot of money in equipping their soldiers. Behind these five turians were an additional three seats. Two of them were in front with the final one on a raised platform, indicating that the commanding officer sits in this chair.

Sitting on the lower starboard chair was a brown turian with blue making on his nose and cheeks while the other officer was standing by one of the windows looking outside. This turian was red with no markings and like the other officer wore medium Phantom armour in the same blue as the pilots. The red turian looks out at the small freighter and smiles at the size of it knowing it wouldn't have normally given a second look by the turians, rather would have been destroyed but they had reframed from doing so.

This was because they were under orders and walking into the bridge behind the higher chair is the commanding officer of the ship. This white Turian was old and looked war-torn as his face had a long scar running down his left eye which itself was none existent and some of his face replaced with metal plating. The staff-officers around him were intimidated by just the look and not his distinguished career. He wears Phantom armour as well except his is a dark green and has a cloak attached to his shoulders, looking more like a super villain than anything else as he sits down and gets a visual of the Dirt-Boat.

He presses a few buttons on his left armrest to bring up a hologram of the ship before speaking, "You called me from my slumber Lieutenant. What is so important?" he asks rubbing his eye.

The brown turian turns to face the commanding officer, "General Rhodius, a few hours ago we received an encrypted message from the Terminus Systems to meet them at these Co-ordinates?"

The turian raises an eyebrow before responding, "And? We don't respond to those who venture through the Terminus, they are not our problem?"

The Lieutenant nods, "You're right sir, but the code identification given was from a Council Spectre."

"A Spectre?" this gets Rhodius' attention as he sits up.

"Yes sir, she stated that we meet her at these co-ordinates to help with the arrest of some smugglers and a person of value to the council." the red turian Lieutenant says walking to his chair and sits down.

"Person of value?" Rhodius replies not knowing what that meant to them.

The red turian speaks, "Specific details were not given but she identified him a danger to those on board?"

Rhodius looks at the hologram of ship, "Can't we just destroy the thing and be on our way? I haven't seen an explosion in months."

"I'm afraid the red tape and reports would be a waste of time?" the red turian responds with no surprise of what he just said.

Rhodius groans before continuing, "Fine, send in the line and transport some troops on board to ensure order."

"Yes, Sir." the red turian presses a button on his left armrest, "Send in the hooks."

Outside of the dreadnaught positioned diagonally from the Dirt-Boat and fires towards the small freighter. To the untrained eye it would seem that the dreadnaught was firing lasers or missiles towards the small ship but really the lights were magnets. They were cone-shaped with a metal rope attached to the end attached themselves on the freighter. When connected a small electrical pulse appears before fully attaching itself but it doesn't end there.

On the other end of these lines is the source which is a small room in the bottom of the dreadnaught exposed to the vacuum of space. Inside this room are twelve turian shock troopers in medium Phantom armour and their helmets were on and covering their faces. They were equipped with assault rifles and pistols but they were holding objects that resembled zip-lines as they attach them to the wire and prepare themselves for transport. The same blue electrical pulse begins again as one turian on each of the four line is ready to be propelled towards the ship as they fly off the platform. The pulse leads them down the wire and with the turians hanging off them.

It's not long after the second team begin their approach but while they are starting off the first team have already reached the ship as they slow down, giving them a safe landing onto the vessel as they begin to walk over it. There armour is built for outer space but their mission was to get inside as they head to the rear of the ship and climb to the bottom near the exhausts. One of the troopers sees a small catch and signals the rest that he has found something as they head inside.

The turian manages to open the hatch via a code on a small panel nearby and enters revealing itself to be an exhaust vent where the dung of many races comes floating out along with various garbage. The turian dodges as much as he can before climbing into it as the second team have arrived by now and are following his movements.

Inside of the Dirt-Boat however on the upper deck Ridian is lying on the medical bed and is slowly falling asleep due to the anaesthetic that Rhea has given him. While she tends to the wounded turian, the two others on this floor are Vlax and his son in which the latter is sitting on his bunk while his father paces up and down the ship in worry for his son as much as himself. His frantic movements do catch the notice of Rhea and understands so doesn't get involved. Vlax is still thinking about what Juna has done as when he thought that she got him up shit-creek with Samara she insults him with this instead which in the end was being tricked for the past year. Ridian felt the same as he had become close to the spectre and she lied to him about who and what she was though he lost trust in her as soon as he heard about her operation let alone her intentions.

The batarian walks into the small cockpit and finds that all of the systems are on shut down. They still had life support though they didn't know how long it would last as they all believe that the turians may not be so patient. He sits in the pilots chair and leans back with his right and rubbing his eyes knowing that this maybe the end of his life, again. Rhea has finished with Ridian and joins him in the cockpit and sits on the chair to his right. She gives out a big sigh while Vlax just looks over and raises all four of his eyebrows, like he has lost faith.

"How's Ridian doing?" he asks to the Asari.

She looks back to the medical bay to catch the turians feet and looks back, "He's okay now. I put some sleep into him so he'll be peaceful for a while."

Vlax nods, "Good, wouldn't want him going through all of this hell anyway." and turns his head and lies on the headrest.

She smiles in admiration, "You care about him don't you?"

He smiles knowing it to be true, "I've known Ridian nearly all my life, we grew up on the Citadel together."

"You were childhood friends?" she asked while bringing her knees up to her chest and curling up in comfort.

"Yeah, we live next-door. We did everything together from playing games when we were young to picking up asari maidens in clubs." he quickly turns to her knowing what she said, "No offence."

She smiles, "None taken."

"I guess it's like you a Krieg, in a way." he states like he knows something about the two of them.

"What do you mean?" Rhea asks confused as it was an odd statement coming from Vlax.

He looks her with a condescending smile, "Well you must of known him a while? You were completely inseparable when you came aboard."

She responds with a raised eyebrow, "We were? I didn't notice?"

He leans back again, "Well for the first month anyway, and then he would stay in his workshop all the time re-fixing his pistols."

"I know, he's a bit odd but he's my friend too." she knew what he was talking about as Krieg became distant after the first month with each day getting harder and harder to get through to him.

"Of course, most of our best friends are odd and that why we love them." he states looking at the jammed controls before continuing, "You know thinking back, Juna was always curious about him. Maybe because we don't know what he is."

She recalls her time with the spectre, "I know, she asked me about where he came from and I told her full truth. She thinks I'm crazy, I suppose."

Vlax chuckles, "We're about to either die or get locked up, try me?"

She gives out a big sigh before telling him the truth, "I found Krieg inside a tomb on a ship. He killed everyone in response to them sacrificing me to save their own skins."

Vlax is taken aback a little, "Whoa, I didn't expect that." but then relaxes and acts casual, "Listen, I'm a batarian and we aren't very romantic or suppositious but sound like that was an act of love."

Rhea looks at him and raises an eyebrow and puts on a defensive expression, "No, he said it was justice for what happened to me?"

"Maybe, but do you believe in everything you hear?" he says with hint of truth, "I have always believed in love at first sight, that's how I met Vaden's mom."

"You think he likes me?" she asks hoping for the answer to be positive.

"I know he likes you. I knew it, Ridian knew it even my son could tell, when Samara was on board he was willing to sacrifice himself for everyone, but I think he did it for you." he explains her transparency.

She's taken aback herself with this as she was knocked out the whole time, "Why would he do that?"

"Ask yourself that question. He watched you sleep nearly the whole time-" he stops speaking as he hear a thud from down below, "What the fuck was that?" he asks.

The thud came from Juna being tossed back into some crates on the far side of the cargo hold as she lay on the ground in pain. On the other side of the room stands Krieg with his jacket off and his expression that of rage, not that different from what he was originally when he woke up. The turian stands and realizes that she doesn't have a pistol or any other weapon for that matter as she sees it on the other side of the room behind Krieg and knows getting to it was near impossible by now. She attempts anyway as when she runs towards the grey alien. He responds by running towards her and on impact clotheslines Juna as she flips backwards and lands on her front. She groans in pain again as Krieg grabs the collar of her armour and uses it to throw her towards the ramp, rollling up it as she remains on the ground.

This however has giving her a chance to grab her pistol which is now only a few feet away. She reaches for it but fails as Krieg uses his left foot to stamp on her right hand. See screams and looks up towards him as his eyes begin to glow blue. He steps off her hand and lifts her with his power watching her float around for a second before hurling her again toward his workshop. She does manage to get up quickly this time and head into the workshop and grabs one of the pistols that Krieg had been working on and points it at him. She pulls the trigger but causes the weapon to backfire as the pistol was tampered with and the sparks cause her to drop it. Kreig has reached her by now as she punches him with a right hook but his adrenaline blocks out the pain and he grabs her by the neck and raises her off the ground.

Meanwhile behind the ramp of the cargo hold, a small door opens as a turian trooper crouches his way out holding his rifle while trying to move some of the trash from his shoulder. A few others follow and move slowly as they see Krieg in the doorway holding Juna by the neck. The first trooper signals to pursue the target as they move slowly. Krieg raises his hand ready finish her off but is interrupted by a thermal bullet hitting his arm, taking him forward a little and dropping Juna.

He turns to see a half-a-dozen turian troopers heading his way from behind the ramp. Krieg fights back with a biotic push but as he knocks the one who shot him back three others firing at will. Juna is on the ground and crawls out of the line of fire while the troops continue their assault. Each bullet hits Kreig with great force but doesn't penetrate as he realizes that they are concussion rounds. He tries to fight back but the power of the six rifles is too overwhelming as he tries to walk towards them. He pushes them back with a biotic push as the six troops are flung out of the way while three more appear from beneath to ramp.

Krieg uses a biotic push and this knocks back one of the troopers just entering while he focuses on the other two. He trips one and grabs the other and throws him into one of the troops trying to get up from the previous push Krieg used. His rage begins to build again and his momentum in attacks increases as he begins moving at semi-charge pace as he punches the closest trooper before heading to the furthest trooper and kicking him.

While he continues to knock down all of the troopers in the cargo hold, Juna remains within the workshop and reaches for her left shoulder pad of her armour as underneath she pulls out a dart-clip and crawls to the workbench and grabs one of the other pistols that Krieg was working on. She pulls out the thermal clip and loads the dart-clip and sits up. She tries to aim to get a shot at Krieg, still fighting all twelve turian troopers. Krieg knocks four of them into the far wall while disarming another and punching him in the head, breaking glass of the helmet exposing his face. One of the troops fires his rifle and chews up Krieg's black sleeveless mesh-shirt.

It hangs off him while he continues to fight the turians but things take a turn for the worse as Juna aims for the back of Krieg neck and pulls the trigger. The dart flies through the air and in a small fraction of a second the dart penetrates Krieg skin and hangs in the back of his neck. He immediately grabs the dart and pulls it out and looks at it in disbelief as he turns to see Juna still pointing the gun at him. She fires another two dark into the left of his chest. He slows down and the turians take advantage of the situation as they get up and attack while Krieg is venerable. Five of them begin to beat down on him as they kick him into submission before he finally loses consciousness. The band stop after there is no life left.

Juna picks herself up and walks over to the troops limping from her injuries, "So you finally turned up?" she says sarcastically.

One of the Turian takes off his helmet to reveal a pale almost white member of the species, "We got your message." he looks down at Krieg knocked out, "Commander Arterius, Hierarchy Command." he states his name shaking the females hand.

"Juna." she responds.

The commander looks down again, "Is this the thing that you stated in you encrypted message?"

She nods, "Yes, I don't know its origin but I was hoping to take it back to the Citadel for proper study?"

"That can be arranged, are you the only other person on board?" he asks looking around the now ruined cargo hold.

"No, there is some others locked in the upper deck." Juna points in that direction.

The Commander turns to the other soldiers, "Get them out. Call for a shuttle to take us back to the ship." he orders as they walk up the ramp while Krieg remains on the floor and begins to dream again.

_The dark void of Krieg's mind is beginning to fill once again with a blue mist as it spirals out of control into a pit of infinity. The mist moves to form pictures of Krieg thoughts at the current time,which were of Juna, Vlax, Vaden, Ridian and Rhea but those pictures then form into the Turian Dreadnaught that has approached them. _

_Krieg exists in this though as he stands on the very top of the dreadnaught naked looking at the stars in the distance. The ship guides through the empty void but the stops when an object appears in the distance. The object forms itself into a squid-like creature similar the one from his other dreams but this was twice the size of the Turian ship as it stares at Krieg. Kreig remains still and waits for it to react to nothing and it does so. _

_The giant things 'eyes' begin to glow and a beam fire from out of them as they begin to make contact with the ship, instantly destroying it but Krieg survives to see the crew of the ship floating through the space, dead and their corpses rotting like they were a thousand years old. Among the dead are his friends as he sees what's left of their skeletons before they fall into dust when the only thing remaining is the creature and Krieg. _

_"What are you?" Krieg asks as the thing towers over him. It responds not with words, but a sound as it pierces through Krieg's brain trying to reach something, but fails as all Krieg feels is pain before the image disappears._

Hours later while Krieg continues to dream, the others have a less traumatizing fate as they are all within a moderately large cell with the door in the far corner. The doorway was blocked by a blue barrier so the guards can keep notice. The cell itself has light grey walls with blue streaks across the middle and has yellow neon lights on the ceiling and filling the room with visibility as without such objects there wouldn't be any way to see. The cell also has two beds one on each side and of the most uncomfortable quality as turians have little regard for prisoner's welfare. There is a toilet next to one of them though no one would dare try and use it in front each other.

Ridian is absent as he is being treated in the medical bay while the remaining three are inside the cell. Vaden was sitting on the bed while his father Vlax sits opposite him with his head in his hands bored out of his mind while Rhea is pacing from one end to the other. Outside of the cell down the hallway of this deck is an elevator and it is approaching this level. A light buzzer is heard before it opens to reveal the ships commanding officer, General Rhodius along with Commander Arterius, head of the strike team that subdued Krieg.

They walk down the hallway and the guards watching the cell nod and opens the barrier as the two of them enter the room. Their presence is grand compared to the two Batarians and the Asari. Rhea stops at the back of the room scared while Vlax stands up in response. Vaden remains seated not knowing what was going on or what was going to happen. Rhodius steps forward to get a better look at the Asari who is trying to hide her face.

Valx interrupts the tension building, "What's going on?"

Commander Arterius speaks instead, "You will all being taken to the Citadel for further questioning, though we can't explain the details as of now."

"Why not?" Vlax asked, "Where's Ridian?"

"Former-Commander Ridian is healing quite well in the medical wing." Arterius sates.

"Former-Commander?" Rhea says confused.

The pale turian nods, "Yes, your friend was once a member of this ship before retiring from service, however his return is more than disgraceful."

"It's a shame. Ridian was such a good soldier. To see him as a criminal is disappointing." Rhodius adds still looking at Rhea.

"Did he betray us too?" Vlax asks not sure about whom to trust despite their history.

"No, he was a retired so he cut ties with the ship years ago?" the commander smiles, "Good to see him again though."

"Will he be charged?" Rhea asks.

Rhodius fills them in, "His service as the ships chef technically makes not a smuggler. He was hired to cook, not kill."

"So he gets away on a technicality, good." Vlax says relived that his friend will be safe but move onto pressing issue, "Wait, what about me?"

"You'll be charged with smuggling criminals." Rhodius states very clear.

Vlax looks at Vaden, "What about my son? What happens to him?"

The General sighs as he looks at child, "He'll be given to your embassy, and he will be taken care of from there."

"You can't take him from me?" he insists walking to his son.

"I'm sorry, but we can't have it any other way." Rhodius exclaims as he signals two guards into the room, "Take the child and the Asari and take them to the civilian quarters."

Rhea looks at Vlax and Vaden in confusion before looking back, "Me, why do I have to go?"

"We'll tell you when we get there." Rhodius says leading them out of the room leaving Vlax alone with no son, no friend, and no one at all.

A few minutes later and they are a few floors up as the elevator opens and two guards lead in front with the General and Commander and then Rhea and Vaden behind but they were being watched by rear guards behind them as they enter the hallway. They walk past a few doors before the guards stop on the third door on the right stop and post themselves by the door to guard it while Rhodius just looks at the two 'prisoners' and nods as he heads further down the hallway with the other guards.

Rhea holds the hand of the young batarian as they step inside and see the living quarters. The room was quite spacious as the two have view of space as a big window covers half of the far wall. The en-suite bathroom and the more comfortable looking beds were certainly more appealing than the cell that Vlax was stuck in. There was even a screen on the wall opposite the beds so one could watch television before going to sleep and some storage cabinets with food and clothing. Vaden lets go of Rhea's hand and looks around the place before heading into the bathroom and the door sliding behind him, locking it. Rhea walks over concerned but understands that he is scared. Commander Arterius is watching all of this as he sees the concern on the asari face as he enters the room and walks to the window to get a good view. She decides to join him.

"Is he okay?" Arterius asks her though she doesn't look at him.

"He's just scared. I am too." she looks out the window, "Why am I here with him. Vaden I can understand but me I-"

The Commander looks at her, "We looked at your identification; we know who you are Miss T'Anya."

She looks at him and realizes that they may know something, "What else do you know?"

He looks back out the window, "You're a trained medical doctor, used to work on Thessia while living with your mother."

She rolls her eyes, "My mother?"

"Yes, Matriarch Vessana." nodding in response.

"Shit." she replies implying that she doesn't want to see her.

"We've contacted your mother. She'll be meeting us at the citadel." he says making it worse for her.

She turns her face to the wall but leans against the window, "You didn't have to call her"

He continues to stare, "Actually Rhodius did. He knows your mother and doesn't want to see her career jeopardized because of her daughter. So we are letting you go free."

"What, so I get to go while good people are just given away to fend for themselves?" she walks over and sits on the bed rubbing her face.

He turns to face her, "I sorry but-"

"What about Krieg?" she interrupts worried for her friend.

"Krieg?" he asks not knowing the name but quickly recollects, "Oh, of course the thing Juna gave us. He'll be taken to the Citadel too."

Shrugging with no answer she then asks him, "And then what?"

The turian looks down not knowing how to tell her, "The Council will decide what to do with him."

This gets her attention as the asari stands up and approaches him, "Why does the Council want him?"

"His origins are unknown; the Council want to know what they are dealing with. They'll want to question you about that but don't worry; the files will be kept secret."

She turns around and looks at the wall with no hope, "Great."

Arterius notices her body language, "I can see you're upset so I will leave you to your business." and heads to the door.

She turns around before he can leave completely, "Wait, commander?"

Slowly turning around, "Please, call me Thalian, Thal Arterius." he insists.

She gets around the idea then continues, "Thalian, I know you're just following orders but it doesn't mean I should act the way I am around you."

"It's okay, I'll drop by later and see how you're doing." he give her a weak smile and walks out of the room and leaves her sitting on the bed.

Rhea looks out the window wondering what is going to happen to Krieg but was more worried about confronting her mother, who she never wanted to see again. Thinking of her made her blood boil but couldn't show her expression as Vaden was still in the bathroom as she walks up to the door and attempts open it.

Commander Thalian Arterius is now standing in the elevator where he is waiting to get back to his floor and continue his duties. He looks at the wall thinking about Rhea, who he is beginning to look at in a different way not knowing why. He lets out a big sigh before a noise goes and elevator doors open to find Juna entering, standing next to him and looking in the same direction as the doors slide shut and the elevator begins going down. There is tension among the two and it isn't friendly as they seem to have a natural dislike of each other but at the same time a huge amount of respect too, as each are successful within their fields. Thalian was young for his rank and earned it through his natural ability while Juna went down the same path but was picked up for the spectre half way there and has been an agent even since. Juna leans on the wall and get comfortable before looking at the back of the commander.

"So, how's Rhea?" she asks him.

Thalian doesn't move and remains facing the doors, "For selling them out, I'm surprised you care?"

She smiles at the comment knowing what he must think of her, "Just because I did what I did, doesn't mean I'm a complete bitch?"

"She and the child are fine. We'll be at the Citadel in a few days." he states not intending to continue the conversation.

"Good." she says finishing it. There is an odd silence before she speaks again, "You know, the Council may want to question you."

This gets his attention as he turns around to face her, "What for? You've got you need."

Juna stands straight, "My report covers it, but they may need you to confirm that's what happened the cargo hold."

The male turian thinks back to when he fought Krieg and remembers the struggle, "He was very powerful."

"That's why I called you, I couldn't take him alone." she admits knowing that attacking Krieg was risky.

Thal sneers at the comment, "Isn't that what the spectres do anyway, work alone."

"We do what we can." she cross her arms.

"Then leave it for us to clear up." he states before the elevator opens.

Juna smiles knowing it was true, "See you later." and walks out of the elevator leaving him alone again.

**2185- The Dark Star, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker sits back in interest as the story so far has be entertaining for him as he has listened to how this asari has been in crossfire on Omega, a smuggler in the Terminus System and was then arrested and heading to where they are now this time nearly thirty years ago. He gets up and walks to the bathroom where he has to yet another leak. He goes into the middle urinal in-between a krogan and turian, who are doing the same as him and empting themselves of all the alcohol they have consumed.

Meanwhile outside back where Rhea is sitting she hears a device from one of her pouches again and decides that enough is enough as she picks it up and takes it apart. The oval shaped object is split into two half's with one half smaller than the other as she attaches it to her ear-hole and presses the bigger half, lighting it up and activating it. She listens to a voice on the other end going on for an extended period but luckily Joker hasn't come back yet.

"…Listen, I know things aren't going great at the moment, but we must remain strong, the time is ticking away…I know you're doing your best but…okay…let me get to a more private place…see you later." she closes the channel and puts the object back together before putting it back inside the pouch on her belt.

Joker comes back and sits back down looking a bit tipsy, "Whoa, that was a good one. What's the time anyway?"

She looks at him and smiles before the having to speak, "Well, it's time for me to go for now. You should get some rest Joker."

He looks at her before speaking, "But what about the-?"

"Go home Joker, I see you here tomorrow." she interrupts and insists.

He looks with disappointment though he realizes that he may need some sleep as they have talked for hours. "Okay, see you later." He says and gets up, stumbling his way out of the club while Rhea gets herself up and walks to the entrance of the club which is still full of life.

When Joker gets back to his room he looks around the small cubical seeing that he never made his bed from the night before. He takes off his boots, followed by his cap and shirt but doesn't bother with his pants and keeps them on and sits on the bed first lowering himself down gently so he doesn't break anything.

He pulls the cover over him and begins by looking at the ceiling thinking about what Rhea was telling him. He then tries to forget it for now as he turns to his bed side cabinet to presses a button. The screen in his room switches on and first makes an image of a cartoon before he changes the channel and continues for a few second before getting the channel he wants. He begins to doze off while the program continues as the screen welcomes the face of Emily Wong.

_"__Welcome to Citadel Newsnet, I'm Emily Wong. The recent abduction of human colonies has recently stopped according to official reports but there has been no word or communication that the colonists abducted have returned to their homes. When the Alliance asked the Council for help with the situation, they responded with that they 'Are doing what they can, but can't help those who are outside their own jurisdiction', referring to the colonies locations within the Terminus Systems."_

"_However one witness from Horizon has returned to Citadel space and has claimed that though certain details have been closed to the public, they do remember seeing a 'Blue Star' appearing the night before. What was meant by this is unclear and considered nothing more that superstition on the survivor's part. Relating to this, the Terra Firma party has used this notion in their recent propaganda wave, claiming that humanity must be strong for itself and that no other race is fit to make decisions that affect the rest of the Galaxy."_


	6. The Union of Love, and Science

**Chapter VI: The Union of Love and Science**

**2185- Joker's Rented Accommodation, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker is lying on his bed with his body under the covers but his right arm hanging over the mattress and close to the bedside cabinet. The cabinet has an alarm clock on the top and is set for 8:00 Galactic Standard time which was getting closer. The human groans as he is already awake from a hangover from the night before but he remains still until his alarm goes off. It stars making an annoying beep causing him to opens his eyes a little bit. He turns his head to see the time and responds by rubbing his eyes with his right hand while sitting up and looking around the room to see it no different from the night before.

He puts his feet on the ground and stands up slowly and takes off his pants which he left on out of laziness. He decides to head into the bathroom and steps into the shower. He begins wash himself while outside of his room wait's the asari Rhea who is leaning against the wall by his door and is smoking a cigarette while she watches people walk by. She is looking around frantically as she thinks something is about to happen while Joker is cleaning up after himself. A few minutes later he walks outside of his apartment with a new set of attire. Like his alliance and Cerberus uniforms he wears the same items of clothing except that his shirt was grey with a black lining and his pants and boots are black too, his cap is still Cerberus however. He turns to his left to see Rhea smoking and is confused about why she is here and how she knows where he is staying. He walks up to her and looks in intrigue.

Joker checks if it her or whether the alcohol is still in his system, "Rhea?"

She turns startled as she puts out her cigarette, "Oh good you still here?"

He looks in surprise of that comment, "Yeah, I was just coming to the bar to see you. I thought you would be there?"

"I wouldn't go there if I were you?" she states looking around the place.

"Why not?" he replies looking at her movements and twitches.

She turns to him, "Somebody got shot in the bar last night, an asari."

Joker is taken aback a little, "An asari?"

"Yeah, they were looking for me." she says with a bit of guilt as she starts walking.

He follows her trying to keep up, "Why were they looking for you?"

"Why do you think?" she says still looking around frantically.

Joker thinks trying to come up to an impossible conclusion, "Wait, it wasn't the-?"

She interrupts his answer, "We haven't got time Joker. I got a call last night from a colleague, an agent is on the citadel here to kill me and they're likely here to kill you too."

He puts his hand up in defence knowing it was a possibility, "Okay, okay, you've got a point. So what are we doing now?"

She sighs, "Joker, if that agent has seen you talking to me, then your life is in danger. I need to take you somewhere safe?"

"Where?" the pilot asks concerned for his own safety.

"I have a safe house, its low-key so no one will know your there."

Joker steps back in protest, "What about you?"

"I'll be there with you. I have my college dealing with this agent." she holds Joker's arm gently in friendship, "Trust me, Joker. I'm right about this."

He gives a long sigh knowing that he will be better off and answers with a simple, "Okay."

She smiles and nods in agreement as she leads Joker out of the accommodation section of the ward. The two of them head to a more familiar part of the ward as they have to pass the Dark Star where they can see Captain Bailey heading the investigation of the shooting.

After hours since the incident C-Sec have closed the place and are covering the whole area. The two of them walk past the officers unnoticed though Captain Bailey does capture a glimpse of the pair before returning to his work on the case. Rhea and Joker head down a level to the parking lot on the side of the 27th level. She stops when they get to a dark blue vehicle, build like sports car as she takes a remote from her belt and presses it. The doors lift open and she gets into the driver's seat while Joker gets in the back because he would be a lot safer in terms of his condition. He puts on his seatbelt while Rhea does not bother. Closing the door she turns on the ignition and vehicle starts to power up followed by it hovering upwards and then heading into the Citadel freeways. Rhea continues to focus on the traffic in front of her.

Joker turns to look outside to see various vehicles and looks down at the Wards but then looks to Rhea in the front, "Well, that wasn't hard?"

"Yeah." she answers relieved.

Joker leans back in comfort, "So while we're here, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"What happened?" she asks not knowing what he is talking about.

He reminds her, "You know? You, Krieg, the dreadnaught heading here to the Citadel?"

She remembers about the time they talked, "Oh yeah, where was I? I had been here before; I came to study Medicine here long before I meet Krieg. But coming back, things got complicated."…

**11/05/2156- Turian Dreadnaught, Serpent Nebula**

On the bridge among the titan that is the Turians ship General Rhodius is sitting in his chair while his two lieutenants do the same as they watch the approach of the ship reaching the end of the Mass Relay connection and entering the Serpent Nebula. It is a huge cloud of dust that surrounds the 'heart' of the Galaxy, or the civilized galaxy. They were headed to Citadel where all culture meet and turians are no exception. The General has board expression on his face as he never liked being on patrol or transport duty and is known to have preferred real action. Entering the bridge is Thalian, the pale turian who is one of the ranking officers though young for his rank but is respected by his peers none the less as he walks up to the General and stands at his side ready to receive orders. He is in full armour like the General which resembles Phantom armour except in a blue colour with green lights.

Meanwhile in Rhea's room within the civilian quarters she is wearing different attire than what she was wearing originally as she has had to change her clothes. She now wear a one-piece dress that reach down to her feet, covering them and has long sleeves reaching to her wrists. There are holes in the dress showing her cleavage and her belly button and the dress itself is in a white colour but has black lining around the edge. She feels uncomfortable in the dress as she usual hates wearing such clothing but has to wear it for publicity reasons.

Vaden is also in the room and is wearing different clothes. He is donned with a brown jacket and pants with dark brown boots and the jacket is zipped up. While he sits on the bed Rhea just stands looking out of the window. The two of them remain quiet until the door opens behind them and Juna walks in wearing new armour which a female version of Phantom armour in a black and white, being more slender and the collar and not as big or thick as male version.

Rhea crosses her arms, "Never thought I would see you again?"

"Just dropped by to see how you're doing?" the female Turian states innocently.

"Why should you care?" the Asari replies.

"Listen Rhea I-"

"Didn't have a choice, you said that before. You're a fucking bitch?" she interrupts and tells her what she thinks.

"I'm sorry you feel that way?" is all Juna can say with a regretful look, "I was just going to tell you that I'll be leaving as soon as you land, give my report then go. You won't see me again?" she turns and heads for the door.

"Good." Rhea looks away as she leaves but not before Juna stops at that one word and looks down. Rhea then turns to Vaden who has watched the whole thing, "Sorry you had to hear that Vaden."

The little batarian just shrugs, "It's okay. Dad talked like that sometimes?"

Rhea smiles at the boy's innocence as she looks at the door again and sees that Thal is entering. In response she walks over to Vaden, "Why don't you go and visit your dad?"

Vaden smiles he gets up, "Okay, see you later." and walks out.

Rhea approaches the Commander, "Thanks for allowing Vaden to see his dad."

"No problem Miss T'Anya?" he replies in a formal tone.

She looks at him in eyes and smiles, "Thal, you can call me Rhea if you want?"

He laughs to himself and looks down at the way he is acting, "I'm afraid I'm on duty. I just came to see how you were?"

"I'm good, thanks for the outfit?" she adds having a good look at it though she finds it uncomfortable.

He smiles, "It was the Generals request. He thought that wearing it would make you less suspicious when we dock."

"Do I look okay?" she gives him a twirl of her body in the white frock.

Though Thal is captivated by her body he remains professional, "I really can't-"

"Thal, there's no one here except you and me?" she states to him while putting her hand on her hips.

"You look, pleasing." he comments.

"Pleasing?" she raises an eyebrow at the comment.

"To the eyes, pleasing to the eyes, sorry I-" completing the compliment, he sighs.

She chuckles at him getting embarrassed, "It's okay Thal, thanks." she grateful give him a rub on his left arm.

He notices this and immediately tenses in response and is not used to this kind of attention, "I'm happy to help." he says while he makes an awkward exit.

The Turian Dreadnaught is approaching a dark mass within the nebula; a silhouette is forming as the giant ship gets closer and closer to a massive structure. First the edges of the five long arms can be seen with lights shining of each one, indicating that the power is spread throughout them. Finally the presidium can be seen at the furthest sight a but not before the Citadel Fleet remains in-between the five arms. Among the many ships is the Asari dreadnaught, the Destiny Ascension as she heads the fleet with various other turian, salarian and asari ships surrounding it.

The arriving ship however like the Ascension is too big to dock at the port so instead they use an alternative as leaving a side of the ship are two small dark blue transport frigates. The shape of the vessels is a long half-cylinder shape with wings on each side. The front end has a point nose whilst the back has fin and exhausts. While one of the frigates has no windows the other has and resembles a civilian transport as inside are the people who are boarding on the Citadel.

Inside is a fully armoured turian pilots while General Rhodius sits on the front row with a few guards, which are fully armoured as well. The second row consists of Juna, Thal and Vaden while on the third row is Rhea looking out of the window. Behind them is a wall and through it is Vlax, technically a prisoner so is separated from everyone else with two guards watching him at all times. The two vessels enter the port but not the typical ports that are allocated for larger vessels like a Cruiser but instead more of garage in which the both ships can land on. Under both ships, legs appear to support the craft. A few seconds later the two vessels release a ramp coming from the middle of the underneath and end under the noise of the ship.

Exiting first are Rhodius and Thalian at his right side and after then his two bodyguards. Following them is Juna and then Rhea, holding Vaden's had leading the child. She looks over to the other ship and sees the various turians walking out. They were mainly guards as they lead out a full-size coffin, white and covered in blue lights and controls on the right side of it. She knows that inside the coffin is Krieg but he is not dead, but in hibernation as they are aware that he could escape anytime so are keeping him on general anaesthetic. The second item to come out of the ship is Ridian, the turian that lived on the smuggling ship with them lying on a stretcher unconscious as well as he is still resting from his injury.

She carries on up with the rest of the group and heads into the foyer where the guards continue to walk while the General remains within the room, along with Vaden and Rhea. The three of them wait for a second before the doors where the guard went through open to reveal an aging asari wearing long gown in a white and green colour. The green is a single strip running down the middle and the dress reveals no skin. Her white covered arms are also covered in dark blue leather braces that reach the middle of her upper arms and wrap around her thumb. She walks up to the three of them but has her eye focus on the other asari as she stands face to face, being a little taller than her.

"Rhea?" the asari says while Rhea looks down away from her.

"Mother." she replies.

"You look no different." she states.

She looks up to her, "Neither do you mother. I guess you want an explanation?"

Her expression turns to a little anger, "Well it would be nice. You've done some questionable things before, but smuggling?"

Rhea opens her mouth ready to defend, "I was-"

Her mother interrupts, "Do you know how much danger you were in?"

"It wasn't like that, I was-"

The General coughs before asking, "If I may intervene, Vessana?"

Vessana looks at the Turian, "Of course Vinel."

"I feel that this conversation should be in private?" Rhodius states as corresponding with the situation.

"You're right, thank you for bringing her back." she smiles at her old friend.

He smiles back, "No problem. I would like to see you again before I board back on the ship, catch up?"

"Of course, anything for an old friend." she replies to him.

"Thank you, I must be off. Commander Arterius and I must meet with the Council. Your friend has caused quite the controversy." he straightens up and gets ready to leave them.

When he has left Vessana sees Vaden holding Rhea's hand and crouches in front of him, "And who is this young man?"

"My names Vaden, I'm a batarian." he states with smile seeing Vessana as a friendly person.

The matriarch smiles at the child's innocence, "Of course you are, and a very Handsome one too."

As she gets up Rhea explains the situation, "His father's been arrested, and they've let me look after him before the embassy takes him."

She nods in response, "Okay, let's take him to my apartment." and leads them out of the foyer.

Meanwhile in an unknown location the four turian guards that were escorting the coffin that was now home to Krieg through a long corridor where they were approaching a reasonably sized rectangular door. It slides open and inside the room is a special apparatus which was basically a bed on a forty-five degree angle cuffs on the arms and legs and metal strap that would go across the stomach of the subject that would lie on it. Various consoles are around the bed include medical machines for recording blood pressure, heart rate and various other biological study.

At this equipment is a red salarian that was wearing blue leggings and black shoes and on his upper half is a white lab coat with various red strips down the arms and middle. He looks to see the turians entering the room and one presses a button on the box to make it turn ninety degrees and face the bed. The turian presses another button and the coffin opens and the two of the guard immediately support the body of Krieg. He was still unconscious as they carry him to the bed and lay him down. They immediately lock the cuffs on his wrist, feet and stomach and also a neck brace crawls across his neck securing him tightly. The salarian looks towards the Krieg and approaches him; he is only wearing dark blue underwear as his possessions were taken when they 'captured' him. He gets a lot closer to see him up close and leans forward into his eyes.

"Unbelievable" the salarian states but the closer he gets to him he suddenly feels drawn to him as he drawn into his mind.

_The salarian like Samara before him is now in the mind of Krieg. The black void covered in blue dust and memories that make no sense fills the world inside. He doesn't realize what is going one as he looks around frantically to see that every direction is the same as he runs a little. He then stops as the image that has been haunting Krieg's dreams appears before him and sees it in all its power. _

_Towering over the salarian, the monster is able to pull him upwards and into him as the doctor phases through to look on the inside to see a grey humanoid naked in a position like he was mummified. It crosses its arms across his chest as he floats back into a vessel, similar to the one that Rhea found him in as he then blasts upwards out of the monster into the abyss of the unknown._

This is just a second of the salarian's life as he immediately steps back and realizes that Krieg eyes are open, staring at him. The guards immediately hold up their assault rifles but the doctor turns around, "No! Put you guns down." he requests putting out his hand defending Krieg.

"But he's awake!" one of the guards says like it was unexpected.

"It's okay. You can go." he points to the door and the four guards obey and walk out leaving the salarian alone.

"Thank you." Krieg grateful says startling the salarian.

He turns to face him, "You can speak?"

Krieg looks at him with a confused grin, "Of course, I have spoken since I woke up."

"And you can understand me?" the salarian raises an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't be answering otherwise." Krieg wittily remarks.

"Okay, my name is Yanlo." he states his name while crossing his arms.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am Krieg."

Yanlo is taken aback again as the more information he learns the more he is intrigued, "Krieg? An asari word from an old language, noun in fact, stands for 'Unknown'?"

Krieg looks away, "Unknown, strange I was given a name but didn't know its meaning."

"Given a name?" Yanlo asks not knowing the origin of why Krieg was named.

The grey alien fills him in, "Yes, my friend Rhea T'Anya gave me that name."

Yanlo recollects what he had previously read in order to be up to speed with the situation, "I see. Your friend is safe; she is staying with her mother."

"She must be unhappy then?" he says knowing something.

"Why would you say that?" Yanlo asks with interest.

"She resents her mother?"

"And how would you know that?" Yanlo asks him yet another question.

Krieg continues answering, "I shared some of her memories?"

"Wait, she transferred memories into you?" Yanlo is referring to what asari do with others when they are close through melding.

Kreig's expression turns to guilt, "As matter of fact I took them. It was a side effect of learning the modern languages from her brain."

The doctor walks over and picks up a file and switches it one. It is of Rhea's medical status, "But she has an automatic translator chip, like nearly everyone?"

"I don't, I have a not synthetic material inside me." Krieg confidently replies.

Yanlo heads to a console and press a button to do a quick x-ray, "Well, you're right." he then looks up to the grey alien, "So Krieg, you are saying that your communication right now, is completely though linguistic skill."

Krieg tries to shrug, "Yes, I suppose. I have knowledge of some common dialects that are used in this current time."

"What's your range?" Yanlo as he continues typing in data.

"Well I guess it is whatever was on her chip, plus a few other languages that I already knew, but don't know the origin."

The red Salarian scratches his chin, "Interesting, very interesting."

Krieg looks around the laboratory and scans the various equipment before commenting, "May I ask why I am inside this chamber?"

"You are an interesting creature Krieg, you-"

"Creature?" Krieg is offended with the title.

Yanlo thinks quickly, "Person. You're a very interesting person, you are one of a kind and when the Spectre Juna found you, she knew your value. That's why you not dead."

"I see, so you wish to study me?" Krieg asks with curiosity.

He smiles in response, "Yes. I am one of the interns of the study, though you have woken up sooner than we expected."

"Intern? You're a student?" Krieg is cautious.

He nods, "Yes, I am at university here on the Citadel, studying Biology and Psychology."

"Impressive." Krieg compliments.

"Well I wouldn't say that I haven't graduated yet, I have only just turned seventeen." the salarian states as his species lives shorter lives but develops quicker.

"Where is the rest of your research team?" Krieg notices that room is empty.

Yanlo shuts the console, "They will arrive later today, but for now I am your only company."

After a long journey through space and a walk afterwards Rhea has finally arrived at her mother's home on the Presidium of the Citadel. At this current time there is daylight outside of the place as it can be seen from the balcony. Vessana's home is spacious as Rhea and Vaden sit on a horse-shoe couch facing a huge screen and a coffee-table in the middle. The door out of the apartment is on the left side of the couch and on the other side is the balcony but behind them is door leading to the bathroom and next to that is a staircase leading to the upstairs of the home though it wasn't visible at this moment. Next to that staircase are a few steps that lead to the kitchen which has a counter so someone from Rhea's position can see a Salarian cooking meals for the guests. Between the raised counter and couch there is a dining table with three chairs on each side and one on each end.

Though most of the presidium apartments are light grey in color, Vessana has tried her best to decorate it as she has but up holographic pictures across the walls, even by a door not far to the left of the screen which was where Vessana was as it was her office or her study as she liked to call it.

The office did have a desk in the middle and a chair behind it, facing the door and a window on the right instead of a balcony and there are various literatures across the room on shelves. On the table is a console and to its left is a picture of Rhea when she was younger, more teenage looking though her actual age would be difficult to tell at that time.

The Matriarch is sitting at her desk and reading something that has appeared on the consol, but the sound of the doorbell causes her to close the program. She gets up and walks out of her office and passes the two guests before heading into the porch of the apartment. She presses the button to see it slide open and reveal Thalian in full armour still as he has just came back from the Council.

"Can I help you?" Vessana asks not knowing who the pale turian is.

He is startle by the matriarch's presence, "Yes, I am here to see Miss T'Anya?"

"Which one?" she replies referring to herself as well.

"Err…?"

"Thal?" Rhea is in the doorway after hearing his voice, "What are you doing here?"

He smiles at the sight of her as he looks over, "I was told that you were staying with your mother and I wished to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? You're leaving?" she says this with a little regret.

He nods, "Yes, the Council have got what they requested of me and I must return to duty tomorrow?"

She looks down, "Oh…well…err…"

Vessana interrupts, "Please Thal, come in, and join us for some food?"

He puts his hands off in protest, "Oh I can't, really?"

She smiles, "My chef can cook turian food, and it won't be a problem."

The turian looks at her and then her daughter before answering, "I would be honoured."

A few hours later and the four of them has finished their meals. Thal in particular has cleaned his plate and gives a light burp causing Rhea to smile a little. Vessana is sitting at the head of the table by the balcony while Rhea sits opposite at the other head. Thal sits on the side near the kitchen while the young batarian Vaden isn't anywhere to be seen, presumably gone to bed as he would have been exhausted from the past few days with his father in custody and having to live with strangers but eventually he would have to go to the embassy as he has no other family besides his father.

Vessana takes her napkin and wipes her mouth before noticing her daughter watching the turian beside her, she could tell that there was a mutual attraction between each other and smiles at the thought of her young daughter and a soldier who were about to fall in love, reminding her of her life and Rhea's father, though those were different days and different circumstances. Rhea looks at her mother still with no smile but acknowledges her existence at least.

She begins the conversation, "Thal, I would like to thank you for looking after my daughter while bringing her here?"

"That's okay, I was only doing my job." he tries to cover something that he has enjoyed with a decent excuse.

"Of course." she replies looking back but continues to question the turian, "So do you know where you are going to be back on the Citadel?"

He shrugs in response, "I don't know, I've been told that we are to head to the colonies first before getting back to patrolling the boarder."

"So you're posted in Asari space?" she asks with interest as being an asari herself.

He nods while taking a sip from his silver glass and continues, "Yes, but we do venture elsewhere. To be honest I'm not exactly a ship-type of soldier?"

"You're infantry?" she realizes as he is clad in the armour he sits in.

"Yes. I say that with pride, being on the frontline is considered noble to my people."

Vessana leans back, "You're very young to be the rank you are, are you not?"

He is reluctant to answer as he gets this question a lot especially from non-military, "Yes, that has come up many times. I am 26 years old but my family seems to have a natural prowess in the military, my younger 'brother' had already progressed through his training within a year."

"Really?" she states looking over to Rhea who just listening to the male visitor.

Rhea tries to change the subject, "So how did your Council meeting go Thal?"

Vessana intervenes before Thal can answer, "Oh Rhea I don't think that Tha-"

"It's okay, believe me?" he interrupts before he takes another sip from his glass, "They just asked me questions about what happened when we subdued the creature."

"You mean Krieg?" she says with the indication that she believe that 'it' is deserving of the name she gave him.

He raise a brow as he hasn't really known what Krieg was apart from his combat skills, "Yes, Krieg. To be honest I don't know any more than you. I was only there for a few minutes until Rhodius took over, and I came here."

"Do you know where they took him?" she hopes that he can give an answer.

"No, I'm sorry." but disappoints instead.

The doorbell goes again. Not expecting company Vessana heads over to the door and into the porch for it to open and reveal Rhodius himself wearing more formal attire, namely his officer's wears which were a dark blue jacket and leggings with green lacing. On his left shoulder is the Hierarchy insignia and on his left is the rank insignia that of a General and both were a silver colour. "Vinel? Its nice to see you again?" Vessana states surprised at his appearance.

"And you too Vessana. I was wandering if you had time on your hands?" he asks hoping to catch up with an old friend. He sees Thal get up in respect of his superior officer. Rhodius looks in surprise, "Commander Arterius, what are you doing here?"

The asari Matriarch looks at the younger turian and back to Rhodius, "Thalian joined us for dinner; he said that you are leaving tomorrow?"

He coughs before continuing, "Well yes. If I'm interrupting something I can leave?"

"Of course not, stay and have a drink with me." she insists before turning yet back again to Thalian and smiles, "Thalian, would you like to escort my daughter around the Presidium?" she suggests with the intention of getting the two alone.

Rhea immediately protest, "Oh no, I have to watch Vaden."

Vessana smiles at her daughter's reluctance, "He is asleep. Besides, both me and the General are here, and you need some fresh air."

"Okay, let's go." she leads him out of the apartment while the elder two get comfortable on the couch.

In an unknown location upon the Citadel Krieg is sleeping in his new chamber which was the room full of consoles, generators and machines. He was still cuffed via the wrists, ankles, stomach and neck upon the bed which unlike when he was speaking to Yanlo was now horizontal so that he was now facing the ceiling. Meanwhile in the other room which he could be observed via a one-way mirror, Yanlo and some others who were the research team were sitting around a table.

There were seven members of the team and at the head of the table was a purple asari who wore similar uniform to Yanlo except with two blue stripes on the left shoulder indicating her rank as top researcher. Next to her on her right were an elder dark green salarian and on her left a blue asari Matriarch who had one-stripe, being the other top staff but not in charge. Next to the Salarian is a Turian wearing armour that is similar to C-Sec. He would be in fact in a higher position twenty-five years from now as was in fact a young Pallin. The other intern like Yanlo was an asari and the other and last member was a drell who was by the look of him in his fifties. Each was eager to see their new project up close as for them it could be a breakthrough into new career while for the high-ranked three it could propel them into fame.

The purple asari stands up, "Welcome team, my name is Doctor Thenas and I am the head of this research team. You all will be working under me for the next year as we research the being in there dubbed K-Thousand."

"Why K-Thousand?" the higher-ranked Salarian asked.

She looks at Yanlo, "Well one of our interns, Mister Yanlo can explain."

Yanlo stands and coughs before speaking, "Err…Well earlier today the creature communicated in a recognizable dialect and referred himself as Krieg. This name was given to him by a friend he has named as Rhea T'Anya. The number being the only one of his kind and he is one in a thousand."

"Wait, this thing can talk our language." the Matriarch questions him.

"Many." he answers by sitting down.

Doctor Thenas continues, "Before we can continue, Mister Yanlo will be building a biological and psychological profile of K-Thousand over the research period." she turns to the rest of them, "Now it is only fitting that we introduce ourselves. You all know me and Matriarch Damina from Thessia, since the report stated that K-Thousand is a biotic, she will be conductor of tests in that field. To my right is Captain Nemus of the Special Task Group who will be conducting combat tests of the subject as well as examining his equipment." she then looks at Pallin.

"My real name is Vaneri Pallin, I have been given charge of security. I'll be honest with you all, I do not know what you are doing here but it must be big enough to have an extensive security, so communication will be important."

"Of course Venari, we'll make sure that you are given the appropriate information." Doctor Thenas turns then to the intern, "And you two are?"

"My name is Delphine and I'm here to assist you in her research." the maiden asari says shyly.

The elderly drell stands, "And I'm Doctor Talis. My job here is to act as K-Thousand's physician. I will be examining him on a regular basis and feeding information to Yanlo's report." the turquoise drell states acting more casual than the rest.

"Well now that with have all introduced ourselves, we can begin the research." Doctor Thenas says this with a smile in excitement.

"Where shall we start?" Nemus states ready for work.

Doctor Thenas continues, "I believe from what Mister Yanlo told us, weshould begin asking it questions. This will involve me, Mister Yanlo and Delphine while Talis will be monitoring the subjects actions. If he lie's, if he has any disease, etcetera."

"Anything specific we should ask him?" Delphine asks the more qualified asari.

"We should try asking about his family history, maybe his home world, see what he knows."

Yanlo puts his hand up, "Excuse Doctor, may I please make suggestion?"

"Of course Mister Yanlo, we welcome all suggestions." Doctor Thenas states.

"I believe that the asari he mentioned, Rhea, would be suitable for questioning about Krieg?" the young salarian insists.

Damina interrupts, "Impossible, Rhea is under diplomatic immunity at this time. I know her mother Vessana."

Thenas nods, "I agree, bringing her within this research maybe is a bad idea."

"But-"

"No Mr. Yanlo I afraid that it can't be done." Doctor Thenas insists as he just stays quiet, "Pallin, what is security like at this moment."

"The Council and C-sec has spared thirty of the best and well trained officers. They have signed contracts not to divulge any information that goes on here." Pallin explains proudly being a dedicated C-Sec officer.

"Good, we shouldn't have any problems here." Thenas turns to the elder salarian, "Captain Nemus, have you inspected the contents that were taken from the project when the turians brought him aboard their ship?"

"Yes, I in fact found something of interest." he reaches in one of his pocket of his new lab coat and takes out Krieg's prized item. The three-ringed miniature Mass Relay core that Krieg stared at a unknown in its purpose. "This." is all Nemus says as he puts it down in the middle of the table and the rest look at it in awe.

"What is it?" Delphine asks with interest looking at the dormant object.

Captain Nemus continues, "I'm not sure, but I have discovered that its alloy is made of that of the Mass Relays, so this thing is somehow linked with the Protheans."

Thenas smiles, "Excellent, what else do he have?"

"Well, apart from that object he also had a unique utility belt with various tools and objects inside." Nemus states while look over through the window at Krieg, "However, I would like to keep hold of that if you don't mind?"

"Of course, everybody get some sleep. We begin first thing tomorrow morning." the head of team states and they all get up and be about their business.

Delphine sees Yanlo looking through the window and scratching his chin. She approaches him, "Don't worry Yanny, you tried."

He sighs as he just looks at her, "Yeah, I know. He looks peaceful doesn't he?"

She looks through the window and scans Krieg's body and intently interested in the new creature, "Yeah, quite attractive too?"

"That's not why we're here Delphine." Yanlo remarks like he knows something discrediting.

She bites her bottom lip but then continues, "I know, but it's exciting isn't it? Working hard will paid off for us."

Yanlo nods, "Agreed. But talking to him today, it's like he has-"

"A soul?" she guesses as Yanlo has already established a connection with Krieg.

He smiles knowing that's how he felt, "Yeah, he seemed like he was generally normal."

"Well he doesn't look it." she adds bringing the reality to the conversation.

"Neither do krogan, but they seem to get away with it." he jokes as they both laugh and head out of the room leaving Krieg alone for the night.

The presidium is very quiet at night unlike the wards which gets busier. The night sky darkens the scenery that is the heart of galactic politics. Rhea and Thalian are within an area of the presidium which was familiar to nearly every alien within Citadel space as it was home to the embassies of many of the races not on the council. This area was famous for have many monuments as well as at the entrance to the tower where politicians would come to discuss their problems.

This area in particular is held in great importance by many but for the two walking the place, it was oblivious to them as they didn't really care for politics which would be considered a necessary evil too many who didn't. The two of them continue to walk but don't speak to often as they are both nervous and feel that they have been dropped into an uncomfortable situation by Rhea' mother. Rhea feels like Vessana was playing on Rhea's emotions and giving her a chance to meet someone, though she doesn't realize that she has feelings for Krieg.

The two of them stop on a bridge looking over at the Krogan monument. The huge statue of the species was to show gratitude for the Rachni Wars, but the Genophage wiped the true meaning of that statue's face. They both lean on the side of the bridge and look in the water below, crystal clear but Thalian looks up and stare at the krogan statue.

"So you like being the military,y Thal?" asks Rhea still looking down at the water.

"As a turian, I was born for it." he states and was an answer most would say in his position.

She looks up and leans with one arm facing him, "What do you want to do after you retire from military?"

"I don't know, never really thought that far ahead. I've already done eleven years of service, not many more required of me, but I always wanted something else." he stands straight and sighs, "I wanted to just, live."

"Live?" she raises and eyebrow while leaning into her original position.

He joins her leaning forward, "My life. I was like many turians my age, wanted to do something with my life apart from blowing things up but instead I had a generic fate." he smiles to himself, "It doesn't matter now. Hey, at least I have nice retirement fund."

She smiles too at the comment, "You're right. Can't argue with that."

Thalian turns his head to her and look in her eyes, "Listen Rhea, I really appreciate this, you being here and keeping me company."

She immediately looks down in discomfort, "It's okay Thal, and you're a good guy. It's just that with everything that's happened, I'm exhausted."

"I understand, but doesn't mean we can't be friends." he says raising her chin up with his finger.

She takes her left hand and holds Thalian's two fingered hand and gentle squeezes it, "I thought that you weren't allowed to fraternize with people linked to your assignments."

He in turn takes a grip of her hand and smiles stepping a little closer, "I'm off duty." he says in a cocky tone. He leans his into her forehead and they both smile as she gives him a light peak on his alien lips. She continues giving him a light peaks as the glittering light bouncing off the lake gives off a romantic mood as the turian holds her in close. His arms are around her waist while she has hers on his shoulders. She continues to kiss him though he feels sensation from each one. Though he has never been with an asari so to return such a gift was difficult, so instead just holds her while she does all the work.

**2185- Zakera Freeways,****Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea has just told Joker about her relationship with Thal, her first real physical love as her expression turns to sadness in remembering it as she also recollects the outcome of the that life with him. Joker is sitting in the back of the vehicle and can see her face and begins to feel a little compassion for the asari, who finds it's hard to talk about this time in her life. Her mother, her friends all around this time became prominent in her life.

Rhea pulls in an empty parking lot and lands safely on the platform. She opens the doors as Joker is the first to get out of vehicle and stretches. His bones are stiff from sitting in the cramped space too long. Rhea gets out afterwards and instead of leading him she reaches in the back of the blue vehicle and takes a bag out. It was the same blue bag that she carried while travelling with Krieg on Omega as she puts it on her shoulder, holding it with one hand while she uses the other to tell Joker to follow her.

The two of them hurry across the parking lot and into an alleyway. There is no life to see as this was more likely an industrial area of the wards rather than a commercial area. Rhea had brought Joker to one of the furthest parts of the wards away from the public. She stops at a certain point to see a Keeper working and knows that this is the sign that she is here. She turns to the wall and takes the communicator from her belt and scan the wall as a holographic console appears and Rhea immediately types in a password.

The part of the wall slides open and reveals a dark ramp heading down to an unknown location. She walks down casually while Joker looks at the keeper before following her. Though it is dark there is some light at the end of the tunnel as the two of them arrive at the hidden location that Rhea and Joker will make home for a while.

"What is this place?" Joker says looking around the network of rooms that have been situated here.

"This was one a small storehouse, but has since been converted into a shelter or safe house for my operations." she points to in the far right corner, "You can sleep in that room there."

Joker wanders the place for a minute and looks around. The place is spacious in an unused way as the light grey walls are clean and so were the floors. The room that they were standing in at the moment was the living quarters though who knows how many more rooms were in this maze of secrets.

The room Joker stood in had a kitchen and a dining table in the centre of the kitchen to eat food off of. Next to it was a lounge-type area with a horseshoe couch and a screen on the wall while behind the couch on the other side of the room a various communications system. The system had everything security needs, nine screens and linked to various cameras. It was control by a console underneath the screens which person would have to sit in a chair in order to use efficiently. Rhea sits at this console and types in a command and with that, Joker can hear the entrance of where they came from is closing off so that they were trapped but safe from whatever was after them.

She turns around on the chair and gets up to walk over and sits on the a stool at the dining table before putting her bag on the counter as she puts her head in her hands, "Well, I am glad that's over."

Joker joins her by sitting opposite, "At least we're okay. Are you going to tell me now what we are running from?"

Rhea looks up to him and is about to confess, "Two years ago, we heard about the Collectors and what happened to Normandy."

"Yeah, they attacked us while we were looking out for geth in the Terminus Systems." Joker recalls the horror of that event.

"And Commander Shepard would be killed and then turned over to Cerberus." Rhea states like it came from a diary.

Joker raises an eyebrow and leans back in suspicion, "What are you getting at?"

"Well, it wasn't the Reapers chasing us, it was someone else. It was Cerberus." she confesses.

Joker takes off his cap and looks at the symbol on it, "Wait, Cerberus was trying to kill me?"

She stands and shakes her head, "No they were trying to kill me. It was my fault; I shouldn't have talked to you."

He smiles in sarcasm, "Don't blame yourself, I had a feeling Cerberus was capable of this sooner or later."

She looks away and leans on the sink, "It goes deeper than that Joker, way deeper."

"Should I know something?" Joker asks knowing there is more to this than meets the eye.

"No, it's better you didn't." she says about to walk out of the kitchen area, "Listen, I'm going to get changed."

"Okay." he replies sitting there while Rhea walks over to her room opposite Joker's, "Hey Rhea?"

She turns around, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for this." he smiles.

"No problem." she turns back and heads into her room.


	7. The Bullet Chain: Part I

**Chapter VII: The Bullet Chain: Part I**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It has been a few hours since Rhea and Joker have arrived at their new home for the time being. The shelter was cosy but was still not the most ideal home but it had to do. Joker was more than comfortable in his room. His room was of simple design with the bed in the corner and there was a desk and a console in the other. Opposite the bed is a wardrobe built into the wall where there were some clothes. His outfit was among the various others but his cap was at the foot of his bed.

He was lying on the bed and snoring hardly and his left leg and arm hanging out of the covers while his head is resting on his right arm. While he continues his snoring he never closed the door and walking past was Rhea, the other resident of this habitat. She like Joker wasn't wearing her normal attire but instead decided to wear something a bit more comfortable as the asari had a beige silk robe from neck to toe wrapped around her. She looks at Joker and sees that he is at peace and also feels a trace of guilt for moving him for the sake of her own mistake.

She moves into the main room and heads over to the kitchen and opens a cabinet which happens to be a fridge as she takes out a bottle from the various foods. She looks at the label 'Serrice Ice Brandy' and takes a glass from the counter, then walking to the horse-shoe couch. Pressing a button on the back of the couch a coffee table rises from the open space between the horse-shoe of the couch. It itself was a circle shape as Rhea rest both the bottle and the glass on top of it.

She taken the remote-control lying on the couch and presses a button. Holograms form on the table while she pours herself a drink and she watches the various people talking. Joker hears the sounds of the holograms after for a few minutes and gets up. He rubs his eyes before standing and limping over the doorway. He looks over to see Rhea looking at the the table and walks over gently to see that the holograms have formed into people. He looks at Rhea who is sipping her brandy, she knows he's up but she stares at a figure within the crowd, herself. She in this holo-vid is wearing a gown that was a light blue and was one-piece, her left arm has a sleeve and her right arm is bare. There is a hole in her stomach exposing her belly button and the sides of her dress had a cut up the left leg, allowing her to expose her leg if she wanted to. In the video, she is leaning at a bar-counter like she was waiting for someone.

"When was this?" Joker asks as he walks around and sits down.

She sighs remembering the date, "In your year, it was 2157. Around May I believe."

"How long after you arrived on the Citadel?" he asks wanting to know how many years had gone by.

"About a year, I had been going out with Thalian for the whole time." she states smiling at the past like it was yesterday.

Joker thinks to himself about what she was doing at the time, "A long distance relationship?" he smiles, "Must have been tough?"

She takes a sip of her brandy and looks at him, "Its different for asari, we can wait for our lovers unlike you humans who get tempted easily."

"Hey, I resent that." the human defends himself before knowing that his race was capable of such betrayal, "So when did you get to see him?"

"Every few months, we would talk every other night when he was off duty and we sent each other gifts." when saying this she snuggles up smiling at how romantic it was.

Joker notices, "Sounds like he was in love?"

"We both were." she says looking at the hologram as she sees herself smiling and as a pale Turian in a grey silk suit with a red under-shirt walking towards her and hugging her, she returning the hug.

He sees this as well as she looks at her and asks a question, "What about Krieg, didn't you love him?"

She sighs again knowing the truth, "My mother wanted me to distance myself from the whole scandal. I didn't blame her, and she was a diplomat."

"You didn't see him?" he asks curiously as he was trapped in a prison during this period.

She thinks deep like she doesn't want to remember, "Once, I remember seeing him once."…

**11/11/2156- Unknown Facility, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea thinks back to around the November period of that earth year. As Humanity hadn't been discovered yet they were going under a different year and time system so the exact date was hard to be exact.

Rhea was sitting within a small carrier with her mother, Vessana. Both were wearing their dresses that they were fitted in when they first came to the Citadel. They sit opposite each other in a same room and Rhea is agitated knowing that she was getting near the location but doesn't know exactly where. Vessana is calm however and knows that Rhea has been waiting for this moment for a while as she just watches her daughter fidgeting. The cabin they sat in was covered in blue and the seats were and black colour but this was only known by the lights on the ceiling. Rhea calms down when she sees her mother's glare and sits and looks down at floor, like she was a child again.

They hear the humming of something coming from the ship and they feel a slight bump as the ship that they are in has landed. As the place has no windows they don't know what is outside but soon find out as the wall to Rhea's left-side opens and the bottom half makes a ramp for the two. They look around to see a small hallway with a small hanger that they just came via. The hallway was grey like the rest of the citadel and they walk down while a few masked C-Sec officers walk by while one escorts them. They reach the end of the hallway and enter an elevator and step inside with the C-Sec officer. The three of them wait a few seconds before the stop at a certain level below where they just came from and the doors slide open to reveal a foyer or reception area. The two of them enter to see Matriarch Damina, Vessana's friend standing at her desk as she walks over to hug her old friend.

"How are you Vessana?" she asks letting her go.

Rhea's mother smiles, "I'm fine Damina, how are you?"

Rhea buts in, "How's Krieg, is he okay?"

Vessana glares at her daughter as she sees her sudden interruption as rude but keeps her composure as she turns back to Damina, "You know my daughter, Rhea?"

She turns to Rhea and smiles like she knows her, "Of course, I remember your birth very well."

"Damina is a very old friend of mine." Vessana states to her daughter.

"But what about Krieg?" Rhea persists.

Damina looks at both the mother and daughter before answering; "You better come with me." is all she says as the two of them follow her into a room on the right of the foyer.

The room they enter is more of a lecture theatre as they were about five rows of chairs. Each row has about seven chairs and each row a little higher so that they could see the screen in front of them. While Rhea and Vessana sit in the middle of the second row, Damina prepares as some of the team enter the room. They are the purple asari Doctor Thenas and dark green salarian Captain Nemus. Pallin was also in the room but remained at the back corner in his C-sec uniform.

"Matriarch Vessana, Miss T'Anya, I would like to welcome you to Project K-Thousand." Doctor Thenas turns to the salarian, "This is Captain Nemus of the Special Task Group and you know Damina. You know that we are holding K-Thousand here right now?"

"Yes. Where is he?" Rhea is getting anxious.

"You'll see him soon Miss T'Anya. We need to make sure that you are safe before you see him." Doctor Thenas insists.

Rhea shakes her head and protests, "That won't be necessary."

"Rhea, this thing's dangerous." her mother says worried for her.

"No he's not." she looks at the three with concern for her friend, "He's just scared?"

"We have run tests Miss T'Anya. It doesn't seem to feel fear." Matriarch Damina implies.

"Then he's just curious?" Rhea responds to the elder asari.

"She's right, he has done nothing but learn since he has been here." Nemus says concerned with that thought.

Rhea looks at the team while curious herself, "Then why do you need me and why am allowed to see him now?"

"We want to test his psychological behaviour. With us he has managed to question and answer very well, but he displays no emotion like he was suspicious." Doctor Thenas states looking at her electronic clipboard.

"He does that." Rhea smiles remembering what he was like.

The purple asari Doctor looks around before turning back to the younger one, "Well after a lot of debate, we decided that a familiar face may be more useful."

"So you're using me?" Rhea says not convinced of what they are doing.

"Yes, but you get to seehim, which is what you wanted." Doctor Thenas finishes as they hear a buzz, "He's ready."

While the group is in another part of the facility Krieg sits in small interrogation room with just a table and two chairs opposite each other. There are cameras in the corners of the room to monitor their project but Krieg is aware of them. The grey alien sits on the chair facing the single door and his left wrist is cuffed with an electronic tag and the tag doesn't seem to be attached to anything but in fact the tag was attached via an invisible chain made by the same material as an Omni-tool. When Krieg moves his left arm a silhouette of the chain can be seen though only faintly.

His attire has changed since he has come here and has been given more civilized clothing though it does resemble a prisoner, wearing blue pants and a baggy t-shirt but no shoes. He stares at the door waiting for his usual appointment to wander through and was bored already and every day before that. He gives out a long sigh and waits another few minutes until the door does open and entering isn't his usual doctor but someone more pleasing to the eye as he looks in disbelief.

It is Rhea walking through the door and she is surprised as well as she hasn't seen her friend in months. She immediately walks to him and gives him long-deserved hug as she wraps her hands around his neck. He smiles has returns by giving her a hug and squeezes her tightly.

He looks into her eyes but still holds her, "Rhea, it you. I can't believe it's you."

Rhea smiles to her friend, "Hi Krieg, how have you been?"

He lets her go and sits back in his chair, "I've been well, but the sight of you. You look extravagant."

"Thank you." she looks down as she blushes, "And blue is your type of colour."

As she sits down he continues to look at her, "How have you been?"

"I've been well, I just glad about you. At least you being treated decently." she hesitates to say the next part, "I'm living with my mother."

Krieg raises his eyebrows in surprise, "You mother, and you're getting along fine?"

"Better than I thought." she looks at one of the cameras in the corners knowing her mother was watching, "How did you know about my mother Krieg?"

He leans in and she does the same, "When we first met, I absorbed all the necessary information I needed, though there were other things as well."

"Like what?" she asks.

"I knew where Eclipse hired you and why you joined Eclipse." he hesitates now, "You really wanted to hurt your mother, didn't you?"

Rhea swallows her pride before speaking, "I'm not proud of it but at the time I didn't want to be a medical doctor. I wanted to travel and see the Galaxy though a mercenary group probably wasn't the best decision."

"I'm not judging you Rhea. I just think your mother deserves an answer." Krieg states while grasping her hand his first sign of affection in months towards her.

She immediately takes it back, "This isn't about me Krieg. What are they doing to you here?

He shrugs, "Nothing, they examine me. They test me and continue to interview me yet can't come to a conclusion."

"You are a bit of mystery, Krieg." she says smiling knowing that she doesn't know him completely.

"True, but some of the best minds in the galaxy are here and yet they still don't understand the contents of my utility belt." he gets worried thinking about it.

Rhea thinks back, "You're what?"

"Remember that thing I took when we left for Omega? Well they have that in their possession." he states.

"And?" Rhea wants to know more form her friend.

"And they keep asking me about it, how it works, why it is my possession. They're questions I can't answer."

"Cant or wont?" she asks but implies, "You must know?"

"I should but I can't remember. Doctor Thenas has even interrogated me without council authority." he looks at the camera to his left corner worried about who is watching.

"Interrogated?" Rhea looks at the camera as well before turning back, "Doctor Thenas is a respected researcher?"

His face turns cold still looking at the camera, "She's getting anxious. She doesn't like me choosing who I want to talk to."

"Who do you talk to?" she asks wanting to know about his recent contacts.

"Yanlo and Delphine, the two interns here. Oh, and Dr. Talis, the physician. They're more pleasant company than Thenas, she can real bitch to them at times." he says smiling in the camera knowing that will cause tension between the two.

"She might have heard you?" Rhea whispers while leaning in.

He turns back to her and smiles, "Do I care, seriously?" after he says that he hears a buzz.

They both stand but Rhea talks first, "Well, that seems to be my queue to leave?"

"I guess it is?" he continues, "Can I request one thing of y-?"

She interrupts inexpertly, "Oh by the way, I'm seeing someone now?"

"Seeing someone?" his expression turns to interest, "Like a partner?"

She blushes and smiles, "Sort of, he's a good guy. We've been going out for a while."

He stands tall as he receives a hug from his friend; "I hope he makes you happy." is all he says in a disappointing tone.

"What were you going to ask me?" she asks while hugging him tight.

"Never mind." is all he says.

"Bye Krieg." she says giving him light peak on the cheek. She begins walking out not taking her eyes of him as he gives her a light smile before the doors slide shut and Rhea can't see him anymore.

**15/05/2157- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

As Rhea has recalled the event where she saw Krieg for the last time she then moves on to the scene where the holograms are showing on the table. In 2157, she leans on a bar counter and looks around like she is waiting for someone and the place she waits is very popular with many of the more civilized people on the Citadel.

The music is soothing and is played by a group of Hanar with odd looking instruments while at the other side is an open buffet and live cooking for entertainment as well. All are well dressed and mannered; the party that she was attending was full of Diplomats, Ambassadors and politicians but doesn't mean that she was any exception as she wore her blue gown while she could see her mother, Vessana across the way wearing a grey sleeved white gown with a long black strip down the centre.

She is talking to Damina, her fellow Matriarch who is now attired in similar clothing only that the dress is a black colour and is wearing a hat of some kind, as matriarchs do in that time of their lives. While they are conversing she continues to wait for the person who she hasn't seen in a while but immediately smiles as she sees the person in the corner of her eye. Thalian has just wondered into the party and is wearing normal clothes for a change as he is clad in grey suit and red under-shirt. He catches her as well and smiles the way the turian's do as he approaches her and is greeted with a hug. After a long embrace she returns him with a kiss on the cheek and hugs him again.

"I've missed you so much." she says letting go of the embrace and giving him another kiss.

"And I've missed you too." he still holds her; "You've been keeping good without me?"

"Not really, but I manage." she blushes as she buries her head in his chest.

"Well a month of leave will do us both good." he states in a flirting tone before he turns around, "Oh, Rhea allow me to introduce you to someone. This is my younger brother, Saren."

Rhea looks at the younger white turian and is amazed. Though he isn't as tall as Thalian he does look like him and is even more muscular, for a seventeen or eighteen year old anyway. Unlike his brother Thalian he wears his uniform of light armour with silver plating. He puts out his hand as Rhea returns the courtesy, "Hello Saren."

He nods, "Hello, my brother speaks highly of you. I can see why." complementing her.

She smiles at Thalian embarrassed but grateful before turning back, "Do you have leave too? You're welcome to stay with us."

He shakes his head in protest to that offer, "I'm just here for a few days. You'll have my brother all to yourself then."

"Thalian, you made it?" both Thalian and Rhea turns to see Vessana.

He smiles and nods, "Yes, pleasure to see you Vessana. Have you met my brother Saren?"

"No I haven't. How are you?" she asks looking at the smaller of the two brothers.

"Very well, thank you." he smiles before turning to his kin and continues, "Brother if you excuse me, I would like to get a portion while I'm here."

Vessana watches him go before turning back to Thalian, "So Thalian, are you going to stay with us for the month?"

"If you don't mind, but I'm more interested in you love life Vessana?" he states catching both of the asari's attention.

"What do you mean?" the Matriarch is suspicious of the young turian.

He smiles and chuckles a little, "Word got around on the ship about you and the General?"

"Mother?" Rhea says in disbelief.

Embarrassed Vessana simply says, "You enjoy yourselves." and heads away to talk to others.

"Is there something you know?" Rhea asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I think we should just drop it for now." he puts his right arm around her and looks around, "Nice party?"

She looks around to, "Yeah, my mother was invited so I tagged along. I managed to get you in though so it isn't that bad."

"I don't know. Diplomats aren't my thing." he states like a soldier would.

"So what are you thinking?" she flirts with him.

He looks at her and leans into whisper, "Well, we could always go home early?" he implies.

She thinks for a minute before answering, "I'd like that, but we'd better stay here for a while."

"Sure." he says as he looks at the bar, "You want a drink?"

She however is looking over at the buffet where Saren was getting himself a portion of food, "Yeah, could you get me a light beverage of some kind while I head over and talk to your brother?"

He looks over too and smiles, "Okay, sure. I'll bring it over."

Rhea walks through a small crowd before she reaches the turian buffet table and approaches the young turian, "Hey Saren?"

He turns to see the asari, "Oh hello Rhea, how are you?"

"I'm good. I just wanted to talk to you. That's all?" she says hoping for a more interesting response.

He nods before speaking, "Of course, being that my brother is with you, if that's the best to put it?"

"Not at all." she smiles a little at Saren, "Your brother speaks highly of you; I'm surprised that we haven't met sooner."

"Like him I'm always on ships, I don't have much time off." he states while taking a bite of a green sweet roll.

She raises her eyebrows in agreement, "Tell me about it, it took Thal three months to get this break."

"And he's been talking about nothing else since we arrived. He really likes you Rhea, unlike me I don't think he likes the violence that much." Saren unlike his future self-shows some compassion.

"What do you mean?" Rhea asks not completely sure.

"As a turian, we are naturally made to serve but Thal wants more for himself, he wants you." he looks over to Thal just getting his and Rhea's drink from the bar, "You're his future Rhea, the only thing that keeps him going during the long night of space."

Rhea smiles and breathes deeply as his words are that of truth, "I feel the same way." she returns.

Saren smiles, "Good, then if your happy, he's happy, I'm happy. I've enjoyed talking to you but I must leave, I'm meeting someone soon and I don't want to be late."

"Of course, thanks Saren." she replies as he takes another sweet roll and leaves walking through the crowd.

"Where's Saren going?" his older brother asks as he hands Rhea her brandy.

"He said he had a meeting if you know what that means?" she notices that this makes Thal chuckle, "What?"

"Oh nothing." he says trying to avoid the topic by having a sip of his drink.

"Tell me." she ask before looking at him with a glare, "Thal?"

Thalian sighs with a smile before confessing, "He's going to the Consort Chambers for the day."

"I see, and you're not going with him?" she looks at him seeing if he was tempted.

He finishes his drink in one gulp as he puts glass on the table while grabbing Rhea and holds her waist, leaning his head into hers "I have my own consort right here." he sates as he smiles. Rhea gives him a long kiss on his mouth in returns.

"Rhea?" someone says behind the buffet table. She turns to see her old college, Ridian who is wearing a chef's attire composed of white leggings and top with a small collar. He also wears a dark blue over-shirt with the Citadel symbol on it. He looks to see the other person and instantly recognizes him, "Commander Arterius?"

"Ridian, what are you doing here?" Rhea asks in disbelief.

"I'm working, my cooking skills got me a job here." he looks at the two of them holding each other, "You two aren't together are you?"

Rhea looks away in embarrassment, "Well-?"

"Yes, we are?" Thalian finishes.

Ridian raises his eyebrows and looks at the two again, "I see, congratulations."

Rhea smiles, "Thanks, so how have you been?"

The red colonial-marked turian looks over at one of his co-worker, "Hey, I'm taking a break!" he states while looking back at the two ready to leave them, "Let's get a table."

It about half an hour later and the three of them are sitting around a table while many of those around them are doing the same as the party's music is more soothing than anything. Ridian has his right leg sticking out however as this is the one that Juna shot a year before and in his right rests on a cane with a handle that resembles a turians head. He has a sip of his drink, blue ale that is okay for his species as Thalian has the same drink. Ridian is talking about his life after the Dirt-Boat.

"…well after I was 'arrested', I was released by C-sec. My leg was fucked up from that gunshot wound. I have to walk with a cane nowadays but isn't all that bad." he takes a sip of his drink, "About a month later, I found an opening for a multi-skilled cook in both Dextro and Levo-acid meals, aced the test."

"So you cook at all these functions?" Rhea is amazed at his success.

"You got it, already got few hundred thousand in the bank." he leans back in triumph.

Thalian is surprised, "That's quite a job, hope I can get something like that when I retire."

"How many years you got left?" he asks him taking another sip.

"About four years, I'm quitting when I'm thirty." he takes grip of Rhea's hand as she smiles, "Then, I don't know?"

"Well I'll drink to that Thalian, the Hierarchy would miss you." Ridian finishes his ale, "Oh, by the way. I got a visitor the other day, Juna."

"Juna?" Rhea hears surprised but then implies, "Wait, you're not back-?"

He protests, "No! Hell no. She was on business, Council business in fact."

"What about?" Thalian is interested in what he has to say as he takes a light sip.

He shakes his head and looks down at the bottom of his glass, "I don't know, she wouldn't say but she was interrogating me a little."

"She's a Spectre, what do you expect?" Thalian says not surprised at Juna's actions.

"You see I thought that too, but there was more to it than that. She asking me about recent contacts, she mentioned some people I don't know."

"Who exactly?" Rhea listens in.

Ridian thinks for a second then replies to her, "I think a few members of a research team, err…Yanlo was one of them that came up if that's familiar?"

"Yeah it is, he was one of the members of the team." she stops and looks at Thalian.

Thalian questions with a simple, "Rhea?"

She takes a breath before answering, "One of the members of the team that was researching Krieg."

Thalian is confused and pursues the issue, "You saw that Krieg guy? I thought he was imprisoned in a secret location. Not even the Council knew where he was kept."

"My mom pulled some strings with a friend a few months ago so I could see if he was okay. I haven't seen him since then because they won't let me." Rhea confesses shrugging in discomfort of the situation.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Thalian asks wanting to know why his love wasn't completely honest.

"I didn't want to worry you." Rhea states in an innocent tone.

Ridian interrupts the conversation, "Well if this involves Krieg, something must have happened?" Ridian stands and is about leave to get back to work, "I better get going, but remember what I said."

Rhea nods in gratitude for the information as she watches her old college walk back to the chef's tables. She turns to Thalian who is still confused about her visiting Krieg, "I'm sorry Thal, I-"

"You didn't have to hide this from me you know." he says with a disappointed voice.

She leans into him and rubs his arm in comfort, "I sorry. I wanted to see him; I did travel with him for almost a year."

"I know." Thalian states giving her small peak on her head-fringe and smiles, "You know, I'm the one who goes out to space and fights pirates, and I'm worrying about you."

Rhea smiles more comfortably, "You don't have to worry about me." and she holds the embrace.

The party continues as they sit together. Ridian is back in his area and is continuing to cook food for the turian diplomats while Damina and Vessana are talking to each other again. While the two Matriarchs talk among themselves they are being watched across the other end of the party by a hanar who is aided by his drell assistant, who is about in his early twenties. The drell wears a blue long-jacket that reaches his knees with yellow rims; underneath the open jacket is a red-shirt tight against his body, showing his muscles. His leggings are blue and wore padded shoes of the same colour. His face is that of a normal drell except that it has marking on his cheeks and his skin-tone is bluish color. He stands to the pink Hanar's right and is very anxious like he is waiting for something to happen.

"This one is ready to approach." the hanar exclaims as he seems to staring at one of the two asari.

The drell looks at him, "Ambassador Veyanger, again I must protest."

Veyanger turns a little towards him, "You may not believe the blight they have done, but this one does." he states before walking in the slow fashion that his kind do out of water as he slips his way through the crowd before approaching the two asari matriarchs. He turns to Damina.

"Can I help you sir?" the asari asks innocently.

"No, you cannot help this one, but it is ready to confront."

She looks at Vessana in confusion as they both do not understand, "I'm sorry I-"

"You disrupted the journey of the Enkindler that now walks among us. You are one of many responsible for the travesty that followed."

Damina starts to get concerned, "I don't know what you're talking about."

By this time his assistant has reached the scene, "I'm sorry ma'am but my employer has a way with words-"

"It did not come here to talk, it came here to state what is true!" this begins to catch everyone's attention as the hanar musicians stop and all watch their fellow representative berating the matriarch.

"And what is true?" she asks ready for an answer.

"This one will…" his sentence is interrupted by a bullet piercing his skin as he immediately falls to the ground.

"NO!" his assistant shouts as he kneels down quickly and tries to help his employer but immediately knows that the shot was clean, instantly killing him.

As everyone is running in all different directions with fear, Thalian immediately takes Rhea to the ground as they hide under the table, "Wait here."

"Thal-"

"Wait!" he commands as he crouches quickly over to the drell, "Sir, we need to get out of here?"

The drell looks at Thal, "I…I-"

"Come on!" he drags him by the arm as he escorts him by crouching across the area with Rhea joining them as they pass by.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker looks at disbelief as he has watched the whole of the party on record. How Rhea managed to get the video was mystery but it indeed showed the story of one of the most infamous assassinations in recent history. He looks at her expression which is one of a person who has seen this horror a thousand times before and was moved by it at all. She takes another sip of her brandy and puts it on the table. She then lies down on the couch and takes one of the pillows to rest her head as she smiles. Joker notices her positive expression and is yet again confused with the asari. He looks at the frozen picture of the hanar lying dead on the floor.

"So who was he?" Joker asks.

She closes her eyes and talks to him, "His name was Veyanger, and he was the Hanar Ambassador. He was devout follower of the Enkindlers."

"Why did he berate that Asari, she could have just thrown that jelly across the room." he states in a racist tone though doesn't realize the offence it would cause.

She however opens her eyes at this comment, "He was the most important person of his race, Damina wouldn't dare, unlike his assassin."

"Did they find him?" Joker takes a sip from his glass.

She closes her eyes, "Sort of. But there was more to it than that."…

**11/11/2157- Presidium Apartment Complex, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

After the traumatic events of the day, it is finally evening on the presidium and Vessana is leading both her daughter and Thalian home as they step out of the elevator and head down to the end of the hallway before walking up a small flight of steps. They enter the porch of their apartment. Thalian has had his arm around Rhea the whole time and is worried for her safety, though this isn't the first time that bullets have flown in her presence. They walk into the place and see at the balcony is someone familiar yet at the same time, not welcome by Rhea and even Thalian.

Juna has appeared once again in their lives and once again it is all business as she wears blue light armour and is donned with all the equipment. She has a pistol, assault rifle, shotgun and sniper rifle on her person. She turns and smiles at both Vessana and the happy couple, the matriarch not knowing who she is. Both Rhea and Thal are suspicious already as they have both seen Ridian and what he has to say on the matter of her questioning him, so they know that the female turian isn't going to get an easy ride.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Vessana asks.

"Sorry Ma'am. My name is Juna. I'm a Council Spectre." The female turian states walking and sitting at the end of the table, "I need to ask you and your daughter some questions if you don't mind."

Rhea intervenes, "Save it Juna, Ridian told us that you spoke to him?"

She leans back and laughs, "Ah, one of the drawbacks of being a Spectre. It comes without procedure afterwards."

"Just threats of keeping your mouth shut." Thalian says with disdain for the spectres.

"Let's sit down." Vessana states sitting at the other end.

Rhea doesn't want to cooperate, "Mother w-?"

"Now Rhea!" Vessana glares and both obey as Rhea sits in the middle seat on the left side while Thalian sits in-between the two Asari. Vessana looks back to Juna, "Now Juna, how can we help you?"

The Spectre takes a deep breath before beginning, "Well first thing I need to know is, how Ridian contacted you?"

The mother looks at her daughter expecting her to answer, "He was a chef at the party today. He said that you had questioned him about Krieg."

"The party? Where the Hanar Ambassador was shot?" Juna questions curiously.

"Yeah. Why do you know something?" Rhea leans forward, expecting more from the Spectre.

Juna smiles knowing that it is the right question, "Well I'm looking into that too. Someone leaked Krieg's existence to the embassies."

"They what? How?" Vessana asks surprised at the idea of someone doing such a thing.

Juna continues, "The Council doesn't know, but as soon as the Hanar found out, there was uproar."

"Nothing was put on the news reports?" Vessana states knowing current affairs.

"It was all kept quiet, but people were talking in the chambers for long while." Juna looks around the room before speaking, "But that isn't my original reason for coming here."

Thalian gives an ultimatum, "Then why are you here? Tell us or leave?"

And with that Juna gets to the point, "Krieg escaped the facility a month ago."

"What? He escaped?" Rhea is surprised due to visiting the facility himself.

Juna is reluctant at first but then decides to spill the truth, "The reason why I went to Ridian is because I thought Krieg would contact someone he knew. Vlax is prison still awaiting trial and Vaden is too young to be of use. So that leaves Ridian, and you."

"You think I know where he is, I didn't even know he was gone?" Rhea gives off an innocent vibe before turning back to Juna, "What happened?"

Juna gives her a description, "When he escaped, the Council took personal interest and assigned me to find out what happened. In his whole time in solitary confinement, he only had one visitor, you."

"That was because of me. I scheduled an appointment." Vessana confesses remembering the moment months ago.

Juna nods, "Yes, your history with Damina paid off but I'm surprised that he never contacted you, Rhea." she smiles remembering her time with them, "You were his friend, his only friend really."

"How did he escape?" Rhea asks.

She gets up and walks closer to the balcony, "Someone blew their way into his cell and it was planned job. They hacked the security so we don't have any footage."

"What about the C-sec officers in charge of keeping him there?" Rhea states and remembers them all in the facility.

"Out of the thirty, only seven remained. Pallin, the head of the security survived but only just?" she states.

Vessana thinks for a second, "What about the research team? I know Damina's alive."

"Well that's where today's shooting links with this. There was team of seven in charge of Krieg." she turns to face the three of them, "Three of them are dead."

"That sniper was for Damina?" this gets Vessana up and in disbelief.

"I believe so; Doctor Talis was Krieg's physician and was shot on his balcony of his clinic in the wards." Juna walks around the table and is ready leave.

"He was killed too?" Thalian remarks but notices the link.

"Yeah. But before that, Captain Nemus of the Special Task Group was a victim of bomb, somebody sabotaged his equipment." Juna looks away remembering the autopsy, "He was found in pieces. That's when my investigation started, but another one was dead already, the lead of the research, Doctor Thenas."

"What happened to her?" Vessana asks.

Juna looks down and opens her mouth before answering the question, "She committed suicide, though her brain activity was off the charts beforehand. Now with this event that has occurred, we can establish a pattern."

"Wait, you think Krieg is killing them off? He wouldn't do that." Rhea states getting up herself worked up.

"Dozens of corpses from Omega disagree." Juna says recounting the event of the Bloodpack and Eclipse though how she got that information was classified.

"Well he hasn't been here." Rhea states indicating that she wants Juna to leave.

Juna looks at her and nods, "Okay, I believe you. You are only a possibility but I have other leads. Thanks for your time." no one returns the goodbye as she just walks through the door and leaves.

Thalian looks at Rhea before talking, "I heading to bed, see you up there." and walks upstairs to their room.

As Rhea walks to the balcony and Vessana follows and put her arm around her, "Are you okay Rhea, if you need to talk?"

"Why wouldn't he contact me? It doesn't make sense." Rhea looks out at the view of their apartment.

Vessana smiles at Rhea's questioning, "None of this does Rhea, but it's not our job to find out the truth, it's Juna's."

"Yeah, though she could be behind it for we know?" she looks down in shame, "She was one who arrested me."

Vessana gives her daughter a hug, "That's all the past now, have faith Rhea."

Not long later Rhea is walking up the steps of the apartment. The upstairs is just a simple corridor as she heads to the room that is closest to the balcony; Vessana never liked the view of the Presidium while she was trying to get to sleep.

She opens the door to see Ridian sitting at the end of the bed almost naked. His pale turian exterior was ugly compared to an asari with ridges and some of his skeleton defined but other than that it was normal to what normal standards are. Rhea sees that he is trying to ignore her as she begins to take off her dress, revealing her body in the process. The windows were one way so no one could see her undress. Thalian was only wearing black short under-leggings that were the equivalent to underwear for his race.

"Hey." she simply says heading onto the bed and crawling behind him, massaging his rough skin on his shoulders, "Are you still mad at me?"

He turns his head and takes her right hand with his left, "A little, but I can forgive you. Come here." he pulls her down a little and kisses her on the lips. As turian his lip muscles aren't great but after a year of dating Rhea, his technique is better than it was.

She breaks the kiss and flirts with him, "You know, this next month is going to be great. The two us together." she kisses him, "No distractions."

Rhea lies back on the bed as she takes off the last part of her dress and is finally naked. Thal does the same and takes off his underwear as he crawls on the bed and on top of her with seductive look that she returns as they lock lips yet again. Rhea shift positions so that she is on top, sitting on his groin and moves a little to get comfortable. Thal raises his right hand and trials his finger down her body and she smiles because it tickles a little. She grasps his finger and brings it to her mouth as she begins to caress it with her mouth, her lips moving up and down as she enjoys it. Closing her eyes she then opens them to reveal her black dilutions as they both embrace eternity together.

Though the process has begun she continues to get physical as she begins to move in rhythm on top of him. Thal sits up and little but eventually sits up completely as he begins to kiss her smooth skin with his rough lips. He feels her both in his mind and his body as he stares into her eyes and takes his finger from out of her mouth and instead begins to hold her waist as she begin to speed up the pace. Thal is panting harder and harder while Rhea gives a loud moan of ecstasy. It doesn't end there as Thal still hasn't finished with her, climbing on top of her and begins to lick her neck with his pointed tongue.

After, Rhea again begins to meld with her turian lover as he begins his thrusting into her, slowly just the way she likes it. He begins to hasten the pace as he is getting more and more aroused by her and she for him until they both reach a climax.

"THAL!" Rhea shouts as she breaks the meld and Thal falls to her left side and both are sweating as they look at each other and smile.

Thal pulls the cover over them and spoons her, "Whoa, now that was-"

Rhea smiles as she turn over to him and looks at him with a smile, "I'm not finished with you yet." she says getting back on top of him ready to go again.

While the two of them continue to pleasure each other they don't notice that outside beyond the windows is their balcony. The grey fencing blocking off the fall of about hundred feet is currently being occupied by a person crouching on the corner.

The person is male and is wearing black from head to toe. His boots reach his knee and has knee pads attached to them; the right-pad being a little bigger. His pants were tight and held together with a utility belt that resembled Krieg's. His hands and forearms are covered in the same material that his boots are made from, being a black glove and then a brace leading to his elbow, strapped tightly for protection. The back of his hands have padding as well and the knuckles have dusters on the end.

The rest of his upper-body he wears a similar mesh as his pants but the chest and back plates are made of light armour though not thick enough to hinder flexibility. However a notable feature is a silver spine built into it with two blue glowing lights on the side of each vertebra. He also wears a mask which has a cowl made of silver and the eyes are glowing blue and the right eye has an extra light above it. His mouth is also covered with a breathing apparatus similar to that of the quarians though his body shape doesn't indicate that he is one of the species.

Other notable features include two pistols attached to his hips and a sniper rifle attached to his shoulder-blade. The figure is crouching on the balcony fence and looking straight into the room where Thal and Rhea are making love. His mask he can see everything inside as he just watches like he was perverted. He tilts his head a little before standing up and simply falling backwards into the air, Rhea and Thal never even notice him watching.


	8. The Bullet Chain: Part II

**A/N: Hope you're enjoying reading this so far as I have managed to update this story with another Chapter not long after the previous update. Feel free to review the progress of the story and what you think.**

**Chapter VIII: The Bullet Chain: Part II**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker is leaning back on the couch and smiling at the recent events that Rhea has told to him. The way she has described Saren is that of a good person not the psychopath that would try and doom the galaxy years later. Not only that, Rhea was also once intimate with a member of Saren's family, Thalian who was the stark contrast as he was caring and considerate of others. Rhea is still lying on the couch and is smiling at the good times that were in her life but it quickly breaks as she sits up and reaches for the bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy and drinks from the bottle, not bothering to use the glass that she had.

Joker is taken aback from her sudden move and raises an eyebrow which catches the notice of Rhea. She stops and smiles before giving him the bottle as he pours himself a drink. Giving her back the bottle she does the same and puts the now half a bottle on the table again and has a sip. Joker stands for a minute in order to stretch knowing that staying the same position isn't good for him and reaches for the ceiling before sitting down again refreshed. Rhea takes yet another sip of brandy but isn't paying attention to Joker; in fact her mind is on something completely different.

Joker leans forward into her eye-line, "Rhea, are you okay?"

Rhea smiles, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I was just think back to that time. Things were really different back then."

"I know. Humanity was even a part of the community yet. Things must have been different."

"Well in honest truth, it was humanity that changed everything for me." she looks down in shame, "At first I never really like your kind."

Joker looks at her, "Why? You seem okay with me."

"It's been twenty-eight years, views change." she states in a content manner, "Anyway. To hear that Krieg had escaped was unbelievable. When I went to visit him the place was very high-security, no one could of broken out."

"But didn't you say that someone broke into facility?" Joker recalls.

She nods, "That's what Juna said, saying that someone blew their way into the place and hacked the systems. When Krieg escaped everything was kept under wraps, the surviving officers were not allowed to speak about it, and Pallin who was an officer at the time obeyed this agreement."

Joker sips his drink, "What happened to him?"

Juna also takes a sip of her brandy, "He went back to the C-sec Academy to continue his work."…

**15/05/2157- Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Not long after the hanar Ambassador was shot, Pallin was crouched behind a few crates within a warehouse in the wards. Breathing slowly and keeping himself calm as he holds his pistol in both his hands and the features on his face express focus and concentration. The C-sec officer wears the uniform that would still be used decades later except with a few minor differences but too few to notice. With him at this time was another officer, an asari wearing a uniform as well and also has a pistol in her hands ready to fire. He pokes his head around the corner to see a meeting going down in an empty space within the very crowded warehouse, both parties ready to deal.

The one party was a red-eyed, black-crested krogan in green and black armour and his two lackeys, a pair of vorcha which was rare as vorcha were considered mere vermin on a place such as the Citadel, which was itself consider a place of culture and law and something like a vorcha could never understand. The krogan was waiting for his client as he was pacing from one end to another not noticing Pallin of course. He stops and turns to see his clients walking towards them and it's around this time Pallin gets a good look at those who are dealing with the krogan so there are more arrests coming his way.

He sees two people walking and the first was lime green drell wearing yellow armour similar to that what was made from a company like Devlon Industries. The black under armour is complemented by the yellow plates on top, which were medium standard. The one customization of the armour was that after the shoulder padding, there were no protection from the upper arm to the hand and were replaced with black elbow pads and fingerless gloves, the middle and third finger together acts as one finger due to drell anatomy. The drell carries a few weapons on his person, the most prominent being a sniper rifle on his back accompanied by two pistols on his hips.

The second is a quarian who wears and standard suit in order to protect himself from the outside world. The suit havs black under-clothing while the various straps and hood are a dark blue colour, along with his mask. The quarian is also equipped with a pistol on his left hip and a sub-machine gun on his back, being held with a strap. As the two approach the krogan, the quarian holds a briefcase though the contents of what is inside are unknown to Pallin who gets a good look at them both.

The krogan speaks, "Where the fuck have you been?"

"I'm sorry, but a trip to Korlus isn't exactly down the street." the quarian states.

The krogan smiles, "So you got the stuff for me?"

The drell steps forward and smiles, "Oh, we got the stuff alright. But have you got our credits? We've been to that shithole of a planet and back, and it wasn't a smooth ride."

The krogan gets face-to-face, "I've got you credits, but I want to see the stuff first."

The drell turns his head and nods at the quarian who approaches them and opens the cylinder briefcase which displays some equipment and codes, "There you are. The credit counterfeiting tool you wanted from Eclipse and the codes as well, so you can started right away."

The krogan reaches for it slowly. As soon as his hand touches the quarian shuts the case just missing his hand, "What the-?"

"The credits?" the quarian says expecting theirshare.

The krogan nods and activates his Omni-tool and passes on a substantial amount of credits to the pair and with this Pallin and the other officer act upon this opportunity. They turn the corner and point their guns catching the eye of the drell who immediately pulls one of his pistols and fires towards two of them. Pallin takes cover not far forward from his originally position as now all five of both parties in the deal begin shooting his direction.

He aims around the corner and takes down one of the vorcha before taking cover again. The drell takes cover behind some crates as well and aims his pistol towards the direction of the two officers. He ready to shoot but immediately is put off by his quarian colleague who himself takes cover next to him but the two don't speak. Instead the quarian just lifts his hand to show that he still has the briefcase and the equipment inside. The drell smiles and knows what he is implying. The two use this opportunity to escape which causes the Krogan to shift his focus away from C-sec and is about to chase them before being shot down by a sniper bullet, falling to the ground instantly.

The vorcha sees this and immediately begins to flee but another bullet in its head causes it to collapse to its death. Pallin is shocked of what he has just seen and crouches as he approaches the krogan, believing that he may be in danger himself so alerts his partner to stay back. He examines the shot which is dead on the crest, perfect even as he turns to the direction of the shot and sees a figure in the distance at the very top of the crates, crouching while the night sky behind him creates a silhouette before the figure jumps out.

Pallin immediately heads down the entrance where the drell and quarian came from as it was where the figure was exiting via a high window. Still holding his gun he dashes down the way and sees the doors to the outside open but he runs out to see no one, not the figure nor the two criminals who got away.

His partner reaches him and sees nobody there, "Shit, where did they go?"

"I don't know but this is bad, Santi."

"Did you get a look at the shooter?" Santi asks.

"Yeah, but it was too dark to get anything good." he looks at her, "Come on; let's get back at the academy."

The two of them walk around the corner to find their transportation which is a blue vehicle with the C-Sec insignia on the bonnet. They both get inside with Santi in the driver's seat and Pallin next to her as they take off and begin heading back to their headquarters near the presidium which was on the other side of the ward they were on.

"Well, that didn't go as planned." remarks Santi pissed off.

Pallin feels the same, "Who were those guys? Was there three of them?"

"Listen, Pallin it doesn't matter now, we blew it." Santi states before hearing the sound of an incoming call heading to their ride, "Are you getting that?"

Pallin looks before pressing a button, "Sir?"

"Officer Pallin, give me your report?" the voice says ready for him to speak.

Pallin swallows before answering, "We failed sir, the dealer was killed and the two couriers escaped."

"This assignment was trusted to you Pallin." the voice sound pissed off.

Pallin tries to concentrate and continues, "That's not all, sir. There was someone else among the deal. A sniper took out the krogan and his goons while the other two were unharmed. I think there is a third party in this deal sir."

"Sorry Pallin, but with the krogan dead I'm afraid this case is closed for now before we can get any more information. Besides, the Executor wants to see you."

"Okay, I report to him immediately." Pallin says as the communication shuts off.

"I wonder what that was about?" Santi observes.

"Beats me. Can you drop me off at the presidium before you head back?" he asks her.

She sighs, "Sure."

About half an hour later after the events that has just passed Pallin walks on the presidium where the artificial light that is being filtered in indicates that it is close to evening. He walks among the various diplomats as he was getting close to what are the embassies of the more important races in the galaxy, though there were many more. The diplomats include volus and elcor who are conversing with each other thought there were asari and salarians about as well.

He walks up to the reception though the receptionist simply nods, giving him clearance to see the current executor, something that he will become in a few decades. He walks up the steps and through a few doors before reaching the office he needs to be. He enters to find a blue salarian sitting at the desk wearing a dark blue hood and gown with black patterns upon it. This was the Executor and he was in charge of the thousands of officers needed to protect the station. He sees the younger turian and stands, switching off the console in front of him. Pallin approaches the desk and shakes his hand as the Executor puts his hand out, giving permission to sit down and get comfortable as he was brought here for a reason.

"Officer Pallin, it is good to see you again." the Executor states in a dull tone natural for salarians.

"Good to be here, sir." Pallin responds.

"Sorry to hear about your operation in the wards." he says referring to his plan a few hours ago.

"Yeah well, we can't win them all." he states before continuing, "Why am I here sir?"

The Executor sits down, "I need to talk to you about K-Thousand Project."

"I'm not allowed to talk about that sir, you know that." Pallin states not wanting to break the agreement made.

"Of course you're not. You signed a non-disclosure agreement, but these are special circumstances."

The two of them are interrupted as someone else walks into the room and sits down next to Pallin, its Juna, "Sorry I'm late, Executor. I was just dealing with another matter of the investigation."

"What's going on?" Pallin asks because of her presence.

The Executor nods at her before turning back to Pallin, "Pallin, you are in a compromising position. K-Thousand ended in disaster, but doesn't mean the investigation ended."

Pallin begins to talk, "I thought it-"

The executor interrupts, "The case was re-opened after the death of Captain Nemus, and not long after Doctor Talis was killed the Council informed us of the investigation. This is Juna, she is Spectre."

"So you're here to question me?" the male turian wonders as he looks at the female.

Juna smiles, "Not exactly. Earlier today the hanar Ambassador, Veyanger was assassinated by a sniper in front of matriarch Damina."

Pallin can't believe what he has heard, "Oh my, you think that bullet was for her?"

She nods, "I believe so and so does the Executor here. Something like this has to have an official investigation, to avoid any type of argument with the Hanar."

The Executor continues to brief him, "The Spectres have been investigating this for the past month and the only clues have been the assassinations themselves. Juna hasn't had much luck getting in touch with the other members of team."

The red turian leans back still confused, "I see. so why am I here, sir? You still haven't explained that?"

"The Council has asked that you head the C-Sec side of the investigation, but you'll be working with Juna as well." the Executor says with a bit of regret.

"Sir, with all due respect I wish not to work with the Spectres." Pallin states not happy about the situation.

The Executor continues, "Put personal opinions aside Pallin, this is your job. You've an opportunity to find the answers you wanted."

"Think of it as a second chance." Juna says.

He sighs before nodding, "Okay, want do I need to do?"

"Juna has a description of the person she is looking for." the Executor gives Juna the floor.

She nods, "Yes, I believe that the assassin is a drell though you only really see them around hanar as servants."

Pallin gives an odd look, "That's strange, I saw a drell mercenary during my operation today."

"I doubt that it would be the same one but if you see him, bring him in." Juna instructs.

"I will. Any other leads?" he asks hoping for more on what he is up against.

Juna pauses for a second, "Not as of now, I'll keep you posted otherwise." she stands and nods to the Executor before leaving.

The Executor sees that Pallin has a problem, "Listen, I know you don't like working with the Spectre's, not many people do, but I think we have to make exceptions at times."

Pallin stands in response in anger, "Listen Executor, I'll do this by the book. But I'm only working with the Spectre's this one time." and walks out while the Executor immediately gets back to typing on his console.

It's mourning in the presidium as the light gleams through the windows of bedroom. Rhea's naked and sleeping on her front as her head is resting on her pillow while she pulls the sheet over her body. She moans in tiredness as she had a late night with her boyfriend and is still feeling the side effects. While she sleeps, Thal is downstairs in the kitchen preparing himself some food that he can eat as both Rhea and Vessana don't eat the same type of food as him so he has to cook his own food.

The pale turian wears casual clothing which consists of leggings of a grey colour and on his torso he wears a black shirt and an open jacket of a grey colour, made of a leather material. However he is not cooking for just himself as sitting at the head of the table in the next room is his younger brother Saren. Unlike his counterpart thirty years from now this Saren has his left arm and no tubing of any kind within his body but does indeed wears white light-armour and has silver plating on his shoulders, elbow and knees.

The shorter, younger turian leans back on the chair as he turns around to look at the view of the presidium outside. He turns back to see his brother coming to the table holding a plate in each hand. The plate consists of blue beans that are steamed and the next to them is a meat of some kind and completing the dish is a slop of light yellow with the same blue beans mixed in. Saren looks at the dish and his expression is that of a person who is hungry and wants what's on the plate. He picks up the fork that doubles as a knife on the other side and begins to eat.

Thal smiles at his brother, "Didn't you eat last night Saren?"

Saren chuckles at this question, "I'm afraid that last night, I didn't have time to eat." implying about his appointment at the consort.

"Did you see her personally?" Thal asked intrigued at his brothers actions.

By now, Saren has cut his meat and takes a bite of it before continuing, "No, I went with one the assistants. Booking for 'the' consort would take months, I just wanted a good night." he takes another chew of his meat.

Thal raises an eyebrow, "Was she good?"

"Great." he smiles and as he takes a spoon in his other hand and scoops some beans, "Anyway, forget about me. How's that girl upstairs?"

"Rhea, she's fine." Thal does the same and has spoonful of beans.

Saren leans back a little, "Fine? Is that all Thal? You know she really likes you, and I wouldn't be surprised if she showed it-"

"Hey that's enough Saren-" Thal is a bit disgusted with what Saren is implying.

But his younger brother puts his hands up in defence, "I'm just kidding. You're just happier today that's all."

While they are talking Rhea is walking down the stairs in nothing but a silk dressing gown, "Hey." she says seeing her lover and gives him a kiss on the cheek while sitting down next to him.

"Hey, how did you sleep?" Thal asks smiling at the same time.

"Very well." she answers rubbing his leg while he eats his breakfast.

Saren continues with a simple, "See, I told you."

Thal turns to him, "Saren thinks that I am happier today."

"After last night I wouldn't be surprised." Rhea bites her bottom lip after saying it in a flirting tone.

Thal sits back knowing that he is the centre of attention, "Okay, okay." and takes a bit of his meat, "Anyway, tonight me and Rhea are going to Chora's Den. That place by the markets. You're welcome to join us."

"Do they allow people his age in?" Rhea asks knowing that Saren is seventeen.

Saren smiles knowing that it's a good question, "I wear armour and have a pistol on hand, I don't think they would ask for identification. But I'm going to pass after last night."

Rhea looks at Thal, "Then I guess it's the two of us are going." and kisses him again as she gets up and heads into the kitchen.

Saren leans in, "So when are you going to tell her?" he looks at her making herself some breakfast, "She should know, Thal."

"I haven't got round to it yet." he sees Saren looking at him, "Don't worry, I'll tell her." he states in a serious tone.

"Well you better, you can't go a whole month with this on your mind." he states standing up after finishing his meal and heading out of the front door while he leaves Thal to finish.

Rhea sits down on his right leg after he finishes his meat, "Where's Saren gone?"

"He's gone to do some things, He only has a few more days here." he says looking up to her, "So we know what we are doing tonight. What do you want to do today?"

"Well, my mother is at the chambers for the rest of the day." Rhea smiles and leans her forehead into him and smiles as they share another embrace.

"Well, that's sounds…intriguing." he responds implying a way to waste time.

While the two of them plan a night out for themselves, Pallin is in the wards again as Juna mentioned a drell as a possible suspect. Though there weren't many drell on the Citadel this made finding a specific one makes his job harder. The ward that he was in was Zakera, that had a larger population of volus, elcor and hanar, but it is the hanar that Pallin was looking for. The reason for this was because it was common knowledge that drell were indebted to the hanar for raising them to the stars and giving a new home, so anywhere a hanar was a drell was likely to be as well. However where he was at the time would eventually be the place where Captain Bailey would be in charge of twenty-years later as Pallin was wandering around the 800 blocks.

He passes a few shops to find various aliens going about their business but he does see a few hanar walking by and knows that he is getting close to the location he wants. It was a quiet bar in the corner of the street where it is guarded by a drell bouncer wearing black light armour and armed with a pistol. Pallin walks up to the bouncer and in responds the drell just lets him through knowing that the officer is on duty if wearing a uniform.

Pallin enters and takes a good look at the place. It was cramped but cosy as drell like to entertain themselves through a more cabaret-style as on a small stage was a singer entertaining the various drell in the place as well as their allied hanar, who also loved their culture. Pallin looks around and sees the drell he is looking for. He was wearing a strange suit that was fashionable for drell, consisting of a black open jacket and tight leggings as well as a dark blue shirt showing some of his alien chest. The drell also wears a silver medallion with a symbol on it though the symbol can't be identified. Pallin walks up to him but the drell's bodyguard stays in the way. Turning to see his employer the drell nods and he moves leaving the scene and allowing Pallin to sit opposite the drell.

"Officer Pallin, I'm surprised to see you again so soon." the drell says taking a drink of blue liquid.

Pallin gets comfortable, "What, after I put half your guys away on racketeering charges?"

The drell raises an eyebrow, "My guys, you make it sound like I own them. Drink?"

"No thanks, Mister Iochus." Pallin says as he is on duty.

Iochus smiles, "Oh, of course you're on duty. You know Officer, you have quite a reputation down here being by the book and yet so successful."

"Your point?" Pallin says.

"You can't be paid off like many of your friends, or so I've heard." he looks around at his customs, "Why are you here? I'm very busy."

The turian gives him a dead stare, "You heard of Ambassador Veyanger's death?"

"Every drell knows, tragic. You obviously know that I was a good friend of his." the drell sighs before carrying on, "He used come in here, not as often as most hanar but he liked it."

"I have it on good authority that a drell killed him." Pallin states knowing that it was risky saying this in a drell social club.

Iochus sneers, "Even for a turian that's low. We have nothing but respect for the Hanar. We wouldn't do such a thing to them as they gave us hope."

"Well this drell may have killed another of your kind a few weeks back." Pallin says grabbing Iochus' attention.

"Who?" he asks wanting an answer.

"Doctor Talis. Have you heard of him? He was very highly regarded among your kind." Pallin states knowing him personally from the K-Thousand project.

"Yes, he was studying ways to prevent Keplar's Syndrome at early stages of development. Many people funded his research."

"Did you?" Pallin asks, not surprised.

"Of course, all three of my sons have it yet I don't." he answers proudly, "So you say that a drell was responsible for Doctor Talis' sad departure."

Pallin is about to get up, "Listen, if you're going to give me a name, then give it. I don't want to be here, you don't want me here-"

Iochus interrupts, "Well there is one person that I could tell you about who would kill his own kind."

Pallin sits back down, "Fine, who is he?"

"Tido." Iochus says taking another sip of his drink but notices the turian's confused expression, "As a C-Sec officer I'm surprised that you have never heard of him?" the drell takes a sip while Pallin listens in,"Tido, if that it is his real name is a drell who was said to have been born in the terminus, free from Hanar control. He is considered a disgrace to my people and his name is coined now as an insult, like if I called you a bare-face."

Pallin understood the insult, "What is so 'unique' about him and why would you blame him for Veyanger's death?"

"He has the reputation of being the most notorious assassin among my race; he doesn't even pick clients, sometimes he kills for fun. If he shot Doctor Talis which many of my people would believe, then he may of shot Veyanger as well." the drell implies.

Pallin asks a simple question, "Where can I find him."

He answers with a shrug, "That's near impossible these days, but I did hear that he was on the Citadel."

"Do you know a place he might visit?"

Iochus pauses before coming up with an answer, "Chora's Den, he'll go to there. He likes a drink."

He gets up again and nods out of respect, "Thanks for your help."

He raises his glass in return, "A pleasure, at least this time we can talk under more civilized circumstances." and takes a sip.

Pallin takes a walk outside and passing the drell bouncer before he puts on his ear-piece and begins to talk while sitting down on a bench, "Santi?"

"I'm here Pallin. What do you need?" she responds.

Pallin looks around and whispers, "I need information on a drell named Tido."

"Tido? Is that a first name?" she asks in a joking tone.

He shrugs, "I don't know, can you check?"

"Sure." and sound of typing can be heard down the line, "Whoa. Pallin, this guy is so wanted. Get this. Tido, drell, early thirties, wanted on fourteen acts of murder on the Citadel .and his targets are not just your local thugs."

"Who?" Pallin asks.

She begins the list, "Businessman, accountants, lawyers and relatives of diplomats. Pallin, this guy has one heck of quad."

The turian hears this and is disbelieved at his targets, "And he has been convicted of each one."

There's a pause, "Never been caught. No one has a visual of the guy, and he is good at covering his tracks."

"Fucking bastard." Pallin mumbles.

"What's this for Pallin?" Santi asks curiously.

"It doesn't matter, talk to you later." he answer before shutting the link and leaning back on the bench.

In Chora's Den, the bar is no different thirty years before than the bar it would become. The layout is the same but the atmosphere is different as the glowing red and orange lights fill the place as the patrons enjoy the entertainment. Thalian was within the restroom and is standing at one of the urinals. He is releasing his waste alone in the room apart for the Krogan in one of the cubicles, having a number two. A few releases of gas can be heard much to Thalian's dismay as it is followed by the sound of a turd landing in the toilet.

Thalian makes an expression of disgust before zipping the fly of his blue pants. The turian is also wearing a blue jacket and underneath a grey shirt with a collar. He washes his hands and dries them before he heads for the door, ready to get back to Rhea in the main part of the bar. When he is about to leave the door slides open and entering the room is the drell that Pallin was trying to arrest earlier with his quarian friend. The drell not noticing Thalian accidentally knocks into him and is taken aback a little by the taller turian, who has half a foot on him. The drell sees Thalian and walks face-to-face with a threatening smile.

"Problem?" Thalian asks not moved by the drell.

"No, no problem at all. Just don't like walking into people without a reason that's all." he leans in, "So don't give me a reason for it." and walks past followed by the quarian.

Thalian lets the two pass before entering the main room of the club seeing Rhea sitting at the bar. She is wearing a similar dress as her white one except this one is a light blue. Thalian looks back towards the restroom before turning to his drink and sipping it.

Rhea notices Thalian's look, "Are you okay Thal?"

Thal turns back to him, "Yeah fine, I'm surprised you like a place like this?"

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"Well it's in the wards, and you're more of Presidium type of women." he observes.

Rhea shrugs at this, "So? It doesn't mean I can't have a good time in here."

"True. Rhea, have you ever thought about going back into medicine?" Thal asks knowing that it is her profession.

"I thought about, but not too soon. I just don't want to do it at the moment." she looks with suspicion, "Why?"

He acts casual, "Oh you know, I just wandered. The military is always looking for medics."

"You can't wait to leave the military Thal, why say that?" Rhea takes a sip of her drink.

"Well, I was asking my friend and he said that there is a spot available on my ship in few months, on the medical ward." he is reluctant to say the next part, "And I put your name down for recommendation."

Rhea is confused and a little bit offended, "What, why would you do that?"

He leans, attempting to calm her, "I know it was stupid but think about it, if you were on my ship, then we can be together."

She leans in as well, "Yeah, but we'll see each other every day?"

"Not all the time, I'll have my rounds and you'll be working in the medical wing. So we won't be stuck together all the time." Thalian takes her hand, "Listen Rhea, I'm sick of not seeing you. I want this relationship to work but I as soon as I go back in a month, it will be the way it was. You'll be here and I'll be back scouting the galaxy."

Rhea looks down and thinks about what an opportunity this could be for the both of them, "I'll think about it. But thanks for thinking about me, though asking would have been nice." and gives him a kiss on his check.

While the two of them continue to enjoy themselves, Pallin has only just arrived in the bar. He knows that this would be the time that scum of the Citadel would visit a place like this. He walks over towards the direction of the manager's office and sees the batarian bouncer stand up from leaning on the wall and looks at the officer from head to toe before letting him through. Even shifty looking people obeyed a C-sec officer as Pallin walks past and into the locker room where some of the workers are conversing but at the same time are looking at the officer entering the manager's office.

He turns towards the desk and sees the current manager sitting there. Like the bouncer, he was a batarian only this one had only one good eye, his bottom left one. All other eyes were covered a batarian-style eye-patches but his look was more distinguished for his kind. He wore a long red jacket that reached his knees and underneath he had a black pair of pants and boots, complimented with black shirt.

The batarian sighs, "Officer Pallin, what can I do you for?"

Pallin sits down, "How are you doing Quard?"

The batarian smiles, "Okay friend. Not too happy about the people in my bar sometimes, but they pay the bills."

"They'll stay in line, especially with you in charge?" he states with distain.

"Yeah, you want a drink?" he offers pouring himself some ale.

He answers with a hand of protest, "No, I'm on duty."

Quard smiles, "You should relax a bit more Pallin, you can't be on duty all the time. Anyway, how can I help you?"

"Do you know someone named Tido, a drell?"

This name makes Quard pause, "How did you learn that name?"

"I'm looking for him."

Quard laughs, "Good luck. So is half the galaxy."

"I hear this place is one of his favourite spots, likes the drink?" Pallin says standing up.

"Well I can't help you find them, sorry."

Pallin is about to leave but turns his head to face him, "Them?"

Quard realizes his mistake and looks up, "What?"

The whole of his body faces him and leans on the table ready to interrogate, "You said them, he's here isn't he?"

"I don't know what you talking about?" Quard says.

"Quard, you're not helping yourself. Tell me now or in questioning?"

The batarian looks down before looking back up, "Fuck you!"

Pallin grabs Quard's wrist and yanks him over the desk immediately cuffing it, "You're under arrest Quard?"

"What for?"

"For hindering an investigation and verbally insulting a C-sec Officer." he states placing his hands behind his back and cuffing the other wrist. He leads him out in humiliation as many of his employee's watch as Pallin pushes him out and escorts him through the bar, catching notice of Thalian and Rhea as well. Rhea notices Pallin from her visit to Krieg. He was sitting in the back of the room when she and her mother were being briefed. She watches him escort the batarian out before Thalian leads her back to her drink as they carry on the rest of their night together.

Later that evening and Rhea and Thalian are both stumbling to their home as they have just walked out of the elevator. Rhea falls to one knee but Thalian holds arm so that she doesn't fall down all the way. He uses what's left of his strength to pull her up as he supports her while they walk down the hallway and up the steps to the porch door. Rhea falls against the wall but turns around to see Thalian leaning against the wall with his hands as he looks into her drunken eyes with lust. She laughs at him and he smiles as she brings him into her and gives him a kiss along with a seductive lick on his cheek.

They open the porch and they both enter but now Thalian has his women held in his arms as he carriers her and stumbles as he takes her to the couch and places her on there before climbing on top of her as he begins to stroke her fringe. Rhea smiles weakly as she lets him trail his hand down to her breasts and message it. She groans a little as she begins to receive light nibbles on the neck. She bits her lip as she and while she remains in pleasure. Thalian is already undoing his fly and lifting her skirt gently as he prepares for insertion.

He looks at her face to face as she immediately grabs his behind pulls it towards her and feels him inside her and breaths deeply before Thalian retracts and inserts again. He begins to breathe heavily on her as he hastens the pace and watches her eyes go black and screams in pleasure, trying to keep quiet as the likelihood of her mother being upstairs is high and didn't want her to hear. Thalian continues grunting away as he is reaching his climax. He grabs her hand and squeezes as he releases himself and falls on top of her. She is exhausted as well as she chuckles a little before Thalian rolls off her and they both fall asleep on the couch.

In the C-sec Academy Quard is strapped to an interrogation chair within a room waiting for Pallin to ask him some questions about Tido. The drell in question is the supposed killer of the Ambassador and various other people on board the Citadel. Pallin was sitting down on the other side of the room ready to interrogate but had to wait for this wasn't just his investigation but Juna's as well. Both the officer and the criminal were bored until Juna herself enters the room and Pallin stands up in response and approaches her.

"Where were you?" Pallin whispers to her.

"Chasing a lead in the wards. Who is this guy?" she whispers back.

He looks of to the batarian, "Quard, he is the manager of Chora's Den. I asked him about Tido."

"Tido, are you serious Pallin?" Juna asks hearing of the name but also the legend behind it.

"Rumour has it Tido is on the Citadel, and Quard has seen him."

Juna pauses before speaking and nods, "Okay, I'll talk to him. Pallin, I need you on the presidium."

Pallin doesn't like the sound of the instruction, "What? What about-?"

"I have a tip, a drell assassin is going to the Apartment District for his next target, now I don't know if it's Tido but I need you follow it."

"Why can't you go?" Pallin makes a good point.

Juna sighs in frustration, "Because he may recognize me. Assassins are well informed and I think they blew my cover, but if you were acting like you were doing you regular rounds then he might be easier to find."

Pallin sees the conundrum that Juna is in and nods in agreement, "Okay, see you later."

The next morning and the dawn is forming on the presidium but only Thalian is lying on the couch alone and Rhea is nowhere to be seen. He sits up to realize that his private parts are exposed and quickly conceals them in his pants as he gets up. He looks around to see nothing has been touched and assumes that Rhea is upstairs but decides to see for himself. He walks up the stairs and finds that the door to his and Rhea's room is open as he looks through to see her in the bed, covered up comfortably as he leans on the doorway and smiles.

He looks over to his bedside and sees the mail-messenger. He picks up the object and takes it back downstairs so that he doesn't wake Rhea and sits at the table and places the mail-messenger in front of him. It is a form of laptop with two touch screens. He opens the message and reads it thoroughly and his expression changes from curious to disbelief as he realizes something has occurred. He hears the door buzz and wonders who that it could be at this time in the morning as he walks up to the door and opens to see Saren, who is showing an expression that is of concern as well as he walks in and turns around.

"You got that message?" his asks knowing what it was about.

Thal nods in response, "Yeah I just read it, what do you know about it?"

"Nothing, just that some unknown race has tried to activate a Mass Relay near the Attican Traverse." he sits down on one of the chairs around the table, "Listen, they put my garrison on standby but not deployed them."

"Well I've been called back, I have to report to a shuttle in a few hours." he sits down opposite his brother.

"You've been called back?" Saren looks in disbelief, "I thought you were on leave for a month?"

"It's obviously been cancelled. SHIT!" Thal shouts in anger slamming the table.

"You need to tell Rhea." Saren says.

The older brother leans back and sighs, "I know, she's going be so upset. Wait outside, I'm going to pack."

Saren nods, "Okay."

Thal stands up and walks upstairs slowly. Entering their bed room he walks to the closet and opens it to reveal his armour which Rhea allowed him to store for the days of his leave, though he didn't plan on it so soon. He simply takes it off the shelf and places it on the floor while taking off his civilian attire.

His face is one of disappointment as this was meant to be their time together but it was cut short by the thing he hates the most nowadays, work. He puts his armour on, starting with is leg armour then moving to his torso followed with his shoulder pads and finally his arms. He then takes out a cylinder case with a handle and opens it to reveal it as a suitcase and begins to place the few clothes that he has into it before closing it and placing it on the chair by the dresser in the room. He turns to see Rhea as he sighs heavily as he is about wake her up and give her the news.

He sits down next to her on the bed and strokes her face, "Rhea?"

She wakes up opening her eyes gently and smiles, "Hey, I had a great night last night." she says before noticing that he is in full armour, "What's going on?"

"I been ordered back to my post." he says not looking at her in the eye.

She sits up keeping her chest covered in the sheet, "What?"

"I wish I didn't have to say this, but my ship has been called out and all troops have been called back."

"But you're on vacation?" Rhea states.

Thal is ashamed, "Not anymore. I'm sorry Rhea. Listen-"

"No you listen, you said you were going to be here for a while, not a few days."

"Don't you see why I asked you to join the medical core yesterday, so we wouldn't have to do this." Thal states, "Listen, I have to go Rhea, call me will you?" he says giving her a kiss on the lips.

"I love you." Rhea says catching his attention again.

He turns around as he walks back to her and kisses her once again only this time it is longer, "I love you too, so much, wait for me. You promise?"

"I promise." Rhea says with a weak smile and another kiss as she gets up and hugs him. She gets up and puts on a white robe and escorts him down stairs do the door where Saren is waiting.

"You said goodbye?" Saren sees that Rhea is upset.

She nods, "Yeah."

Thal hold his lover while facing Saren, "Brother, can visit here later? Just to check on her."

"That isn't necessary Thal, I'll be fine." she says to him.

He give her a kiss on the forehead, "I'll call you as soon as I can, okay?" and releases her and follows Saren to the end of the hallway as they wait for the elevator. He looks at her from a distance as he sees the tear in her eye and can't help but feel guilt for what has happened. This was not what he intended for them but his focus is shifted when the buzz noise is heard and the doors open and the two turians step inside. Rhea watches as the elevator door slide shut and immediately after walks back into her apartment and very upset about Thalian leaving so soon.

When she enters back in the apartment she think for a second. First Krieg fell out of her life during the whole incident on the Dirt-Boat and now Thalian, someone she truly loves has now had to abandon her. The sole thought of this makes her break into tears as she immediately heads into the kitchen and opens the fridge and takes out a bottle of Serrice Ice brandy and shows the origin of where she first drank the beverage. Taking the top off she drinks it from the bottle instead of having a glass and not realizing the strength of the liquid begins coughing over the sink.

Vessana has woken up by now and entered the kitchen to find her daughter taking another sip of her brandy, "Rhea?" she says as she takes the bottle and puts it on the counter, "What going on?"

Rhea turns around and sees her mother, "Thal's gone."

"Gone? Where?" Vessana looks at her in confusion.

She turns to the sink again, "He was called back to his post, I-"

"Let's get you upstairs, tell me up there." she says escorting her daughter out of the kitchen and to the upper floor.

She, Thalian and Saren never seemed to notice a fourth person in the scene as hiding behind one of the pillars within the hallway which happened to be Pallin. He was still doing the job that Juna sent him to do the night before. Pallin's posture was one of alertness as he was holding his pistol and with Rhea back in her home. He approaches the steps that lead to her door and aims the weapon towards it ready to fire at the next person who exits. His reasons were unknown but may have something to do with Juna's request of him, which are revealed when the doors open and revealed not an asari, but a drell.

This drell was familiar as it was the one that was normally accompanied by his quarian friend only this time he was alone and had an object in his hand, Thal's mail-messenger which he intended to steal though he didn't know that he had encountered the very same turian before in the bar. He was now frozen in front of Pallin who is holding his pistol, pointed at the drell and ready to fire.

"Tido?" Pallin randomly asks.

"Of course." he answers.

"You're under arrest." Pallin stands triumphantly.

Tido, as he is known now just simply smiles yet again to the officer's confusion but doesn't realize why before he is knocked unconscious from a pistol across the back on his head courtesy of an unknown accomplice. All he can hear is the sound of light footsteps fleeing the scene as well as the drell's.


	9. The Bullet Chain: Part III

**Chapter IX: The Bullet Chain: Part III**

**17/05/2157- Vessana's Apartment, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It's been half an hour since Pallin was knocked out by Tido's accomplice though he doesn't know who it exactly is to his dismay. He has woken up to a grey ceiling which he was curious about because as he could remember falling down face-down on the floor. The officer sits up to realize that he is inside someone's apartment. It was Vessana's to be exact but there is no one to be seen as he gets up and pulls his pistol not knowing the situation. He looks around the place starting with the kitchen in front of him as he approaches the room. The only unique feature within happened to be the Ice Brandy bottle that Rhea had opened early.

Heading out of the kitchen he keeps his gun pointed as he heads over to the room on the other side of the room towards Vessana's office where he takes a peek inside to find that there is no one in there though a console was switched on. His attention is caught by a noise coming from behind him as he walks back where he started at the couch and uses it for cover. He points the weapon towards the kitchen then the entry to the upstairs and finally to the downstairs bathroom where he witnesses the owner of the household walking out wearing her black dressing gown made from Varren skin. She sees the young turian holding his gun but he stands and puts it away realizing who he is pointing his weapon towards.

"Matriarch Vessana, I apologize." Pallin says bowing to her out of respect.

"No need, officer. I found you outside lying on the ground." she says looking towards her front door, "What are you doing here?"

"I was following someone." he says catching her attention.

She looks with intrigue, "Following someone, here?"

He walks around the couch and approaches her, "Yes. A drell left your apartment with something. I don't know what it was though."

She looks confused as she never noticed Tido when she was in the apartment and therefore doesn't believe him, "I can assure you officer if someone was here, I would have noticed."

"But…"

"Listen officer, my daughter's upset about something. If you'll please leave." she says still worried about her daughter who is still upstairs.

Pallin looks down in frustration before looking up again, "Yes ma'am. I am sorry for wasting your time."

She smiles at his politeness, "It's okay, you're only doing your job." and heads back upstairs to tend to her daughter while watching the C-Sec Officer before he walks out of the door.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea is remembering this time which causes her eyes to shed a tear from her right eye though with Joker leaning back on the couch he couldn't notice and therefore never pursues the issue. The asari takes another sip of her brandy before standing up and heading into the kitchen and opening the fridge to take out a small light blue cardboard box. She opens it to reveal a birthday cake with the message 'Happy Birthday Rhea' written neatly on top of it. She opens a side draw and takes a knife and is ready to cut a piece for herself. Joker notices that she has got something out of the fridge and decides to see what it is.

"You want a piece Joker?" she asks him.

Joker looks at her cutting the cake and answers, "Err…sure. Happy Birthday?" he says hoping not to appear rude.

Rhea smiles, "Don't worry. It was from a few years ago. The ingredients were developed to last years." she hands him a piece.

"You like birthday cake?" he takes bite of the cake.

Rhea nods as she cuts herself a piece, "Yeah, you humans do have assets. Nice food, nice drinks."

"What about your people?" Joker wonders.

She shrugs, "What about them? Listen, I said early that I didn't like your kind too much, back then."

"Yeah you said, why?" Joker still hasn't got an answer for this question.

The asari sighs before recounting what happens, "When Thal left that day, he didn't come back. For you, it was First Contact War, he was one of the many casualties on the turian side."

Joker realizes that her small distain for humanity was justified as many of his kind resent turians for the same reason, "Rhea, I'm sorry."

Rhea smiles weakly while taking a small piece of cake and takes a bite, "It's okay Joker, it wasn't Thalian at the time. He was heading to Shanxi but things were coming to a climax on the Citadel."

Joker leans on the counter while examining his cake, "Yeah, how so?"

"Pallin visiting wasn't the end of the investigation, but the clock was ticking for someone."…

**17/05/2157- The Ward Access, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It would be the late-afternoon of the same day before Pallin would carry on his investigation and his trail of Tido was a dead-end job. He needed some rest and time to get his composure back with knowing that his unknown and expected encounter would leave him with nothing for the investigation. He was down within in the wards and looking out among the balcony where he stood waiting as he sees the Destiny Ascension pass by and looks in awe of the massive dreadnaught.

The person he is waiting for is a familiar red salarian who is now wearing armor of white with black underlay's as it was salarian was of the Special task Group anda lot different from the lab coat he wore when he was taking care of 'Project K-Thousand'. It was Yanlo who sees Pallin from a distance as he approaches the C-sec officer. The sound of the footsteps makes the turian turn and smile as he is glad to see his former work college.

"Mister Yanlo, it's good to see you again." Pallin says shaking his hand.

Yanlo replies, "Its Private Doctor Yanlo now. And it's good to see you again Pallin."

"The STG seems to have worked well for you so far?" the C-Sec officer states.

The salarian leans on the balcony and watches the Destiny Ascension, "Well, I'm still training but things can't be better, though I feel that's not the reason you asked me hear?"

"Well in fact I was wondering if you could help me?" he asks joining him leaning over.

"What can I do for you, officer?" Yanlo asks respecting Pallin's age and rank.

"K-Thousand?" Pallin states referring to Krieg.

Yanlo is startled by this and looks around, "We are not allowed to talk about that, are we?"

Pallin remains relaxed, "Actually, things have changed. When Ambassador Veyanger was killed two days ago, C-sec wanted in on the investigation, and they put me on the case."

"Obvious choice." Yanlo agrees, "You worked in the facility, along with the targets, apart from the Ambassador of course."

"Naturally, but I've had trouble so far. My only lead evaded me." he turns to him, "A drell."

"A drell?" Yanlo says surprised.

The turian nods, "Yeah, he was carrying pistols and sniper-rifle. He looked very suspicious on the presidium so I followed him, to Vessana T'Anya's place."

Yanlo recalls his memory as he has heard of that name before, "T'Anya, the mother of Krieg's only visitor?"

"The very same, when he came out he had a mail-messenger in his hand before I could arrest him. Then someone knocked me out cold."

"You think he did it?" Yanlo is shocked at the thought of this scenario.

"Well, he fits the description of an assassin, being drell an all." Pallin says with a tint of racism.

Yanlo looks back out at the view before talking, "Who was on the case before it was open to C-sec?"

"Juna." Pallin states.

Yanlo smiles a little, "Figures, she was the one who caught Krieg, and since he escaped he must be taking revenge on those around him, fits my diagnosis in fact."

"What do you mean; you think K-Thousand is the killer?" Pallin asks intrigued at Yanlo's accusation.

"Well the last few times I analysed Krieg, his behaviour was erratic, even on the verge of insane. I don't know what exactly happened to him to be like that but what he's doing now is, it's possible." he turns back to him, "What did Juna say?"

Pallin smiles with a tone of irony, "She told me to go after a person with the description of a drell. Being the initial investigator, she gave me all of her finding though some of it was questionable on how she got it."

"You don't like her?" Yanlo can read his face.

"I don't like what she is, she's above the law and she shouldn't be." a moral that would stick in years to come.

"Well she is the only person that can find whoever is responsible." Yanlo sates.

Pallin nods in acceptance of that fact, "Tell me something Yanlo. Her investigation started with Nemus' death, Talis was killed not long after, and Dr. Thenas committed suicide."

"Yeah, suicide." Yanlo shakes his head while laughing a bit, "Listen, Pallin I don't think that Doctor Thenas died from killing herself. As a matter of fact I don't believe it."

"You have a theory?" Pallin asks.

Yanlo stands straight ready for his speech, "Krieg was a natural biotic, in fact a very powerful one but didn't know his potential. Damina told me that some biotic's who are powerful enough could even control minds."

"Ludicrous!" is all Pallin responds.

Yanlo smiles at the responds, "Pallin, she is asari matriarch; I don't think she'd lie about that."

Pallin straightens as well and wonders for a second in the back of his mind, "So are you saying that Doctor Thenas committed suicide not under her own free will."

"Makes sense, if looks like a suicide then Nemus' death doesn't sound connected, remember that was an accident until the truth about his equipment came out. Then with Doctor Talis' death, I knew something was going on and so did Council." Yanlo leans against a column.

"Why hasn't he killed you?" Pallin asks not knowing if the salarian was safe.

"Well he liked me for starters, he liked you too."

Pallin is taken aback by this, "Why would he like me?"

"He said your morals were admirable." Yanlo activates his Omni-tool, "But he liked Doctor Talis too, and Nemus for that matter so it doesn't make sense why he would kill them."

Pallin approaches and looks at the screen on his Omni-tool, "Wait, Doctor Talis recorded every part of K000's anatomy and was going to present it to the council, only by the time he finished the facility was destroyed, but he had the report."

Yanlo check files of the STG investigation, "The STG that found him apparently never found it. It must have been taken."

"And Captain Nemus was researching the equipment K000's had on him when he arrived." Pallin states hoping for Yanlo to know.

"Some of Nemus' unfinished research was deleted not long after his death." Yanlo answers his question before coming to an answer for the whole conversation, "Krieg is covering his tracks. He was destroying evidence of his existence, starting with the key members of the team, then the stuff they collected from him."

This worries Pallin as he asks the question, "So are we in danger?"

Yanlo thinks before looking to him, "No, as security you only had to watch him. So he has no reason to kill you."

Pallin can't accept that, "How would you know?"

"I'm a doctor of psychology, Pallin. I know I'm right." Yanlo answers confidently.

"What about you, and Delphine for that matter." the turian asks concerned.

Yanlo switches off his omni-tool and walks away a little before speaking, "Me, my report was lost in the facility. As for Delphine, I don't know. She was fired before the end of the project."

"Fired?" Pallin didn't know this and is confused.

Yanlo shrugs, "I don't know what for, but it was for something strange. It was all kept quiet."

"Maybe she might know something. Do you know where to find her?" the C-sec officer implies.

The Salarian nods in agreement, "Yeah, not far from here in fact. I heard she works as a waitress in the bar, we could go and see her."

"Good idea, she might know something. Let's go." he says and the two of them head towards the lower wards.

Rhea and Vessana are within the Council Chambers in the heart of the Citadel. The various diplomats are talking to each other about today issues that affect the galaxy. The chambers were in majority turians, asari and salarians though today was a special day it was an honorary service the hanar Ambassador so the Council were at the top of the steps so that one could go to talk to them and alongside of them are the various ambassadors of the volus, elcor, batarians and other races.

The three members of the Council were different from those who would enlist Commander Shepard to the Spectre's. The blue salarian was female though no one could tell as she was wearing a dark blue hood and robes. Her robes were even laced in silver to show not just her status as a council member but as a female of the species who were considered important among the population. The next member was the asari, who had a purple complexion and wore a red dress with white sleeves. The final member is the turian who is a beige member with black markings across his whole face as well as wearing a suit of dark blue and white.

The three stand ready to make a speech while the rest of the diplomats look up towards the trio. Rhea and Vessana are within a crowd of not just the politicians but a few spectres as well though Juna isn't anywhere to be seen. However leaning on one of the various balconies is the shadowy figure that was stalking Rhea's apartment a few days before when she was making love with Thalian. This figure just watches as the council begins to address the aliens across the chambers.

The asari speaks, "Today we address Ambassador Veyanger, who served on the Citadel for seven years representing his people and many more. His passing is mourned by the Council and all races in the galaxy."

"What about the assassin?" shouts a drell in response, "Are we safe?"

"Both Special Tactics and Reconnaissance and Citadel Security are-"

"You haven't found the one responsible?" shouts a batarian.

"Disappointed, how do we know that anyone in this room is safe?" says an elcor in a very dry tone.

While there is uproar within the council chambers and the Council themselves trying to address the situation one of the crowd is pre-occupied with something else. Nassana Dantius looks no different than when she died at the hands of Thane Krios. She has a small device by her ear and is about activate it while she stands in a corner away from the crowd.

"What is it?…I told you not to call me now…what? How did…what do you mean?…And you survived?…What happened?…Thank you, I'll remember to pay you for this, just stay out of trouble for a while." she shuts of the link with a face of relief and turns around to see the rest of the question and answer session which is still a gauntlet of a few dozen voices towards the three Councillors.

The turian Councillor raises his voice, "Everybody calm down. We are meant to be diplomats, not a mob." he steps forward, "Today, we fear a single person and there is no doubt in that. For years we never thought anyone would dare attack someone as well regarded as the Ambassador, but we were proven wrong. For years you've put faith in us three to do what right for you all, have faith in us now, when we need it the most." with the turian speaking with his heart it seems to have paid off as the crowd begins to calm down.

Vessana looks at Rhea, who is still upset about Thalian leaving, "You okay, Rhea?"

Rhea gives a weak smile, "Yeah, just a little bored."

"Don't worry, the Council will be finished soon." her mother ensures.

"It's not that mother, I'm worried about Thal." she hugs her mother.

"I'm worried too, but he'll be back. He loves you, and I love you too." Vessana says comforting her.

"Thanks mother." Rhea responds as the two of them head out of the crowd and towards the elevator.

The actions of the two have caught the notice of the shadowy figure upon the balcony who simply watches the pair head down the steps. The figure stops leaning on the column and makes his move as he walks along the balcony following them and keeping his eye sharp on Rhea. Rhea and Vessana are near the elevator before the figure makes a move as he looks back to the crowd to see if anyone can see him but there are still facing the Council. The figure takes this opportunity and leaps over the balcony and lands lightly on his feet and watches the two asari enter and the doors of the elevator shut. The figure breaths heavily ready to follow his target.

Pallin and Yanlo are sitting in a bar within the wards. The sign above them indicates that it's called 'Blue Heaven'. Like the name implies it has a blue theme as the walls, the tables and the bar but the most prominent feature was the asari strippers on their podiums dancing. They are sitting on one of the tables as Yanlo has drink of alcohol unlike Pallin who was duty and therefore reframed from dinking just encase it affected his job.

Yanlo is looking around for Delphine who was once a member of the team that was researching Krieg while he was incarcerated. Pallin looks around to for her as well as he looks towards the bar but on duty at the moment are all asari which is making it difficult to locate her. Delphine is in fact in the room but had been promoted so to speak as she was wearing a purple skin-tight outfit which consisted of a bra and panties with thigh boots of the same colour. She was a lap dancer for those who wanted her and there were many as she was entertaining a krogan at the time.

Yanlo sees her before his turian friend and taps him on the shoulder as the he points her out. Yanlo himself is amazed of how low his former colleague has fallen. He knew she was depressed but not desperate as he immediately gets up and walks over against Pallin's silent protest. Walking across the way he stops about ten feet away with the C-sec officer behind him as the two of them watch her gracefully pleasure the krogan visually as the alien tips her and leaves. She turns towards the two of them and her expression turns to shock and embarrassment. She gets off her podium and walks to them reluctantly.

"Yanny? Officer Pallin?" Delphine says in disbelief.

Yanlo looks at her head to toe and looks back in her eyes, "Hey Delphine, it's been awhile?"

She looks down in shame, "Yeah, it has. Listen, my shift just finished. I-" she is interrupted by a beeping sound.

Pallin realizes that it is him and takes an ear piece and when put on his ear and accepts the call, "Hey Santi, what have you got for me?...What?…tell me this is some sort of joke?…okay, I'll get down there." he switches it off and walks back to Yanlo and whispers in his ear and the salarian simply nods as Pallin leaves.

Delphine watches him leave before speaking, "Yanny, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you, about Krieg." he answers.

Delphine hears the name and immediately ignores Yanlo ready to walk back to the dressing rooms but he grabs her arm, "Let go of my arm." she says in a threatening tone.

"Don't shut me out Delphine, not after last time." Yanlo says keeping hold of her hand, "I just need to talk."

She looks at her old friend and sees that he is innocent in his look of his eyes, "Okay, come with me." and leads him to the back stage of the club where all the asari maidens get changed ready for their shifts. Yanlo doesn't notice as he follows her into her own changing room which is small but private as the door shuts behind the two and the only feature is a large mirror. She bends down and picks up a bag and puts it on a chair while she undress herself from her outfit, "So what do you want to talk about, we're not meant to talk about it you know?"

Yanlo turns around and doesn't watch, "Actually C-sec and the Spectres are investigating the murders of the other members."

"I heard that bullet was aimed for Damina and not the Ambassador." she says knowing the truth and is naked by this point.

"I know but lucky it didn't, eh?" he says.

Delphine stands up and looks in the mirror, "Yeah, I guess so."

Yanlo turns his head to see her body before turning back facing the door, "You don't sound worried Delphine, considering that there is a possibility that one of us is next?"

Delphine takes a skin-tight outfit and begins to put it on, a red one piece that has no sleeves but cleavage as she puts her legs through it and then brings the straps over her shoulder, covering her breasts but still showing her cleavage. She looks at her in the mirror again, "It doesn't matter Yanny. I know that Krieg has been killing them, doesn't take a scientist like you to find that out."

Yanlo turns to face her with confusion, "You're not worried? If you know its Krieg then why haven't you hidden or something?"

She looks at him through the mirror, "Krieg's already killed me." she looks down and a tear rolls down her left cheek.

Yanlo sees her about to cry and immediately comforts her by putting his arm around her shoulders, "What do you mean? Delphine?"

"You want to know why I resigned from the project?" she asks.

The salarian kneels down, "You were fired? Doctor Thenas said you were."

"Yeah, I was. But I was quitting before it happened." she sits down on the chair and leans back, "After Rhea T'Anya visited Krieg, she noticed a changed in his behaviour, she was intrigued."

"Yeah, I remember. I was watching with her on the cameras, she wasn't happy with what he said about her." Yanlo states and recalls the events.

"Well that wasn't all she noticed. Doctor Thenas was frustrated at us because we were able to talk to Krieg, even in a casual manner. She never liked it, she was jealous of us." she clenches her fists in anger.

Yanlo nods, "I could tell."

She releases the grip and continues, "Well she got her own back on me. Not long after T'Anya visited Krieg, Doctor Thenas said that she had a new 'experiment' for me to perform on Krieg."

Yanlo raises his eyebrows before asking, "I don't remember any experiments you were involved in during the period after that visit and when he broke out?"

Delphine smiles with a sneer as another tear rolls down her face again, "This one was 'not official'. She approached me and asked me how I felt about Krieg, I'll be honest I quite liked him. I thought he was quite attractive in fact as you know. He was unique but this was a great opportunity for my career. This however wasn't what I had in mind."

"What did she make you do?" Yanlo wonders.

"I would stay later than usual every so often and go into Krieg cell, to help 'pleasure' him."

"What?" Yanlo is shocked at this, "You…?"

"I was anything heavy Yanny, just some manual stimulation. Thenas wanted to see how he reacted."

Yanlo stands in disgust, "Why would you do that Delphine? You're better than that?"

"She blackmailed me, she said if I didn't do it she would fire me and get me kicked out of school. Listen Yanny I don't want to talk about it anymore." she says putting on a dark red boots and black jacket that only reaches the top of her stomach area.

Yanlo knows that she is hiding something, "Delphine, I know you're avoiding something. What happened?" he demands an answer.

The asari is trying not to break but her eyes are watering ready to burst into tears, "I…I…" she breaks and embraces the salarian unexpectedly as he is startled by her intimacy, "Yanny." she simply says to him.

He rubs her back in comfort, "Hey, hey, it's okay."

Delphine just holds there, "When I did what I did, I felt ashamed but that wasn't what made me quit. It was something else."

"What?"

"Not long before Krieg escaped I went in one night and was going to do my thing, only this time was different. Krieg had been acting odd all day, looking at me funny you know? Like he was looking forward to it, which was strange." she breaks the embrace, "I mean he liked it anyway, it was just that he wasn't comfortable with the situation that's all."

Yanlo looks at her, "He knew-"

"Thenas put me up to it, but he let me do for the sake of my job. He was gentle; we even kissed a few times just to ease the situation. But this time was different. I walked inside and he was standing there, naked. I knew something was up and tried to get out but Doctor Thenas refused to open the door. She thought that Krieg would escape." tears start to roll again, "I knew that fighting him wasn't a good idea, so when he started flirting I just went along and let him go all the way with me." she looks down ashamed.

Yanlo feels compassion for the asari knowing that she was victim to a travesty, "I'm sorry Delphine."

She smiles weakly, "You have nothing to be sorry about Yanny. It was my fault."

Yanlo holds her face and looks into her eyes, "No its not, don't worry." and hugs her again.

The reason why Pallin was called away from the conversation that he would've had with Yanlo and Delphine was answered when he reached the wards access near the presidium, more specifically the alleyway by the club. The scene is that of an investigation as C-sec officers of all races are creating a perimeter of the crime scene. As Pallin takes a look from a distance he walks down the steps and walks through the light barrier to find Sant, his usual asari partner leaning against the wall as she is looking at the centre of it all.

Pallin looks as she turns her and raises an eyebrow in no surprise as she looks back at what's so interesting. Pallin moves the two officers out of the way to find the source and it wasn't a pleasant one. It was Juna, the female turian that was known as a Spectre to the Council who lay face down on the floor and dead. As Pallin crouches in surprise of his 'superior's' death he looks at the back of her head to find a single gunshot wound and in response he lifts her head a little to see the exit wound, coming out of her left eye. Pallin closes his eyes in disgust as he puts the head back into her original position and approaches Santi.

"When did she die?" he asks her.

Santi sighs at the state of her, "About an hour ago?"

Pallin recalls the time before continuing, "Pretty early in the evening for backalley killings."

"Well for a shot like that, she must have been relaxed. Besides, that wasn't the only thing we found." Santi replies looking over to another anomaly of the scene is a broken piece of equipment.

"What's that?" Pallin's eyes squint looking at the object.

"It was a mail-messenger; someone didn't want us to know what was on there."

"That looks like the model they issue in the Turian Military and the one Tido had his hands on." Pallin turns back to her with a serious look, "Take the evidence over there and get forensics to get me the account number. It should be written on there and from that, you'll get the details of the soldier it was issued to." he looks at the Juna's body again, "Whoever did this to her obviously had a reason."

"You think it was this Tido?" Santi asks.

"Must be, I saw him with that very same model in his hands." he answers referring to their encounter before he was knocked out, "But I don't think that he was the assassin we're looking for."

Santi looks confused, "What do you mean?"

Pallin turns to his partner, "Think about it, Juna told me to find a drell. Naturally most drell on the Citadel live on the 800 blocks, so I started there and speak to Mister Iochus, the local scum. He tells me about Tido and his favourite spot."

"Chora's Den?" Santi replies.

He nods in response, "Exactly. When I get there Quard indicates that he has seen Tido, though what I don't know is, is that Tido was hired by Quard for some job but not the assassination."

She looks confused, "Then what was Tido hired for?"

Pallin laughs in realization, "That warehouse assignment that went shit remember, we knew that Tido's merchandise at the time was counterfeiting goods and we knew that they were Quard's to sell, Tido acting as a patsy with his quarian friend."

"So why didn't you arrest him?" Santi says knowing that it was an option.

He recalls the event, "Juna intervened, and sent me to the presidium to find Tido, who she sets up."

Santi stands straight and circles around the body before asking, "Wait, so when you said that you found Tido with that Mail-Messenger, the person who knocked you out was-?"

He interrupts on a roll, "It wouldn't have been his quarian friend, he would've caused suspicion as it was. Juna knocked me out, hoping that I thought it was the quarian."

Santi can't believe the officer's accusation, "She's a Spectre-"

He simply nods, "Tido must of thought that after our encounter, Juna was trying to arrest him through accident. This was the opportunity to prevent such a fate." he then crosses his arms.

"And the Mail-Messenger on the floor?"

He looks at the body, "Was for Juna, if I would have confiscated it off Tido she may have either killed me or taken it and used it for herself, the former seems more likely."

"So why would she want it?"

"I'm not sure, but it was important enough for her to die with that knowledge." he looks and at the body one more time, "We better get back to the Academy, the Executor is going to want to hear about this." he is about to head that way.

"Pallin wait." he turns to Santi as she asks, "What does this have to do with the Ambassador's death?"

Pallin smiles, "Fuck all…Absolutely fuck all."

While Pallin rounds up his investigation and head to the presidium Yanlo is still within the wards, though at this time he is escorting his friend Delphine back home after hearing the news that caused her to act the way she did during the K-Thousand project. The two of them turn the corner and see the street that she lives in. Her street is small and resembles more of a long hallway from an apartment block with a row of doors on each side.

They walk down the hallway for about three doors until then the asari stops on the left-hand side and open the doors as the two walk inside. The place of accommodation that she has acquired is not much bigger than the one that Krieg and Rhea shared on Omega or the one that Joker was staying in before Rhea took him to the safe house. It was very claustrophobic as Yanlo sits down at the table while Delphine takes two cylinders and passes one to the salarian as he opens it and takes a sip.

She takes a sip and smiles, "Thanks for walking me home Yanny. You didn't have to."

Yanlo smiles back, "It's okay Delphine, I wanted to…Are you okay with what you said?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It was awhile back now and I'm doing well for myself so I don't think about it." she says though it sounds like it was still plaguing her mind.

"You didn't graduate though, you could always go back?" Yanlo holds her shoulder hoping that she would think on it.

"Maybe, but not now." saying it with regret though she cheers up a little, "Now I just want to have fun, I'm only seventy-seven you know."

"Yeah I suppose, but Krieg, K-Thousand, he should've been killed." Yanlo states now he knows the truth his opinion of Krieg has changed.

"Hey don't say that. He was a good person something happened. I don't know what but in the end he didn't feel like the same person."

Yanlo nods and sips his drink, "I know, but now he's going around and killing. It makes me wonder."

"What?" Delphine is intrigued with what Yanlo is implying.

"Why would Krieg act normal, then after Rhea visiting him, he changes?" he observes.

"Yeah." Delphine puts down the glass and leans over the sink.

Yanlo notices and leans over, "What's wrong."

She takes another deep breath, "When I was…you know, I was more shocked at what Krieg said than anything."

Yanlo squints as he doesn't like the scene of what is being talked about, "Delphine, you don't have to talk about-"

But she interrupts, "No, it's okay. When he was doing it, he said 'Rhea'."

"Rhea?" Yanlo says by surprise.

"Yeah, he said her name instead of mine, like he was pretending I was her." she turns back to him, "The Krieg that I knew before never did that."

"You were jealous?" Yanlo replies with surprise as she couldn't imagine why.

She turns around and a tear rolls down her eye again, "Yeah, I was okay! I did see the footage of his visit with Rhea. I saw how he held her, how he looked into her eyes. I guess that's why I did what I did for Doctor Thenas. I wanted him to appreciate me in the same way."

Yanlo stands up and finishes his drink, "He liked you Delphine, and he was nice to you."

"And that's why it was my fault. I got too close to him and he saw weakness, and then used me!" she exclaims as she begins to look down in frustration.

He immediately stands and walks to her, "It wasn't your fault. It was Thenas' for letting you go through that misery-"

"Yanny please, you keep saying it's not my fault but it is!" she continues to cry.

Yanlo looks at her friend crying again and comes to the conclusion that there is no justice in how Delphine is living her life. His face turns to anger as he feels that something must be done as he holds her once again.

The figure dressed in black watches from distance as he sees both Vessana and Rhea walking towards the apartments and decides not to follow them as that isn't his purpose for today's stalking. His is in fact near the embassies and watches as the last of the artificial light fades and night occurs on the Presidium. He stops leaning on the wall and activates his Omni-tool and instantly turns invisible as the he simply walks past the various people populating this area.

He takes a left toward the Embassy Bar, taking light steps he freezes as two asari diplomats walk past him not knowing how close they were to him as he continues up the steps and walks inside. The figure turns his head to the left and focuses on the door closest to the embassy lounge, the Executor's office.

The Salarian who is in charge of two hundred thousand C-sec officers is still typing on his terminal as he doesn't need that much sleep. He stops for a second as his screen in front of him flickers but shakes it off and continues; a few seconds later it switches off completely like the rest of the power around him. He stands and looks around in suspicion; a place like the Citadel never has a power cut but his train of thought is interrupted.

The figure uses this as his opportunity as he appears from behind and the Executor who immediately turns to face his murderer though the mask prevents him from that. The figure starts with head-butting the salarian following by punching him in the stomach afterwards; using the opportunity of being off guard as he then grabs the Executor by the neck and grips tight, strangling him.

The figure throws him over to the balcony where he hits his back on the wall but uses the extra time he has he takes out his pistol from under his robes and fires at the figure and shooting him in the stomach and few times before he takes cover. The figure groans in pain as black blood drips on the floor, knowing that that they were lucky shots though the Executor would beg to differ. However he doesn't have time to think as the figure pulls out his pistol and fires at the Executor.

The Executor hasn't moved yet as the knock on his back has deeply injured him and is having trouble getting up from his position. The figure subsequently shoots the salarian in the hand knocking out the pistol in his hand but continues and fires two more shots in retribution for his new wounds. The salarian sees the blood coming out of his chest and knows that he is nearing the end.

"It was you…you killed the Ambassador, you killed Talis, Nemus?" the salarian screams in pain as he feels a great shrieking in his head not knowing the source but is draw to the figure, "WHAT ARE DOING TO ME?" but the figure doesn't answer as he lifts the body via biotics and watches as the Executor suffers by floating through the air and his mind being torn apart.

The door can't be opened from the outside as the power is shut down so there is no one to help him. It is unfortunate that Pallin and Santi are walking up the steps, ready to give the truth of the investigation and the death of Juna to their superior but instantly notices the power failure at the door as it's flashing red. As the turian puts his ear to the door he can hear a faint scream coming from the other side and immediately draws his pistol and points at the lock and shoots it. The doors slide open to find the figure still standing there though the Executor is now floating over the balcony. Santi covers the doorway, knowing the situation could get ugly.

Pallin sees the figure as he is holding his biotics with ease as he approaches with his pistol ahead of him, "Don't try anything." he says in which the figure just responds by turning his head towards him. "Let the Executor down by me and I'll let you live."

The figure tilts his head to the side like he is thinking about the situation and what the best option is. The figure agrees and brings the Executor from over the balcony and lightly lands him next to Pallin. The figure then disappears using his Omni-tool and it is assumed that he jumps off the balcony, whether he lands safely is unknown. At this point, Santi runs and crouches by the other two and watches Pallin.

"Pallin?" the Executor weakly asks as the turian cradles his employer in his arms.

"Are you okay, sir?" Pallin asks.

The Executor closes his eyes and breaths heavily, "No…Pal…lin, he is the killer, Juna fed you…"

"I know sir, she's dead." he replies with a nod hoping to save some life for the salarian.

"I…see, it seems that there was more going on than we realised." the Executor coughs some blood, "He gave me a…message for you…to give Rhea….T'Anya. He told me to say 'Regards from Sintarrio'. Pallin, she is in danger from K-Thousand, he will go for her next."

"No, sir NO!" he shakes his body hoping for some life to appear in the now dead salarian.

Santi is moved by the scene though her feelings are side-tracked by her eyepiece, "…Okay, I'll tell him." she turns to Pallin, "Pallin, that was the Academy. They said that some files have been corrupted."

"What files?"

"Your investigation files, someone as logged into them and read the information?"

"Shit. Okay let's wait for someone to help with the body, and then we'll sort this mess out." is all he says as he rest the Executor down gently.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker is leaning back on the fridge and has just finished the piece of cake that Rhea gave him as he puts the plate on the table. Rhea is now sitting down and is looking at the cake and the memories that came with it. Her thoughts are side tracked when Joker goes to the table, getting the bottle of brandy and pouring himself a glass.

"So, the Executor was assassinated by the same guy who killed the ambassador, and he killed Nemus and Doctor Talis?" he asks pouring her a glass of the beverage.

"Yes." she takes a sip.

"And this assassin was Krieg?" Joker asks her waiting for an answer.

She pauses for a moment, "Yes it was. He killed those people."

Joker is amazed that she doesn't defend him, "And he, he raped Delphine?" in which she replies with a nod.

Rhea carries on, "He mentioned a guy called Sintarrio, who was known very well by most people."

"Who was he?" he asks, sitting down.

Rhea thinks back, "Thal was the first to mention him as he served on the very same ship as he did, under General Rhodius. Sintarrio was a pilot, didn't fly dreadnaughts or cruisers, but fighters, one-man ships. He was meant to be the greatest pilot of his generation but he would become famous after he died."

"What happened to him?"

"Thal had told me the story, one night when he when he visited the Citadel while we were dating, because he was there at the time. General Rhodius was given a mission of patrolling the borders of the Perseus Veil. It was said that the geth dreadnaught were dangerously close and that the Council were concerned. A small skirmish would have occurred if the Council hadn't ordered the General to only retaliate to the geth, not provoke them, but Sintarrio went across the border."

Joker recalls Rhodius sure he had a rogue nature but he was a turian through and through, "Why would Rhodius send one fighter to fight a dreadnaught?"

She raises an eyebrow, "Sintarrio defied his orders and stole his fighter."

"So why did the Executor mention him before he died?" Joker asks knowing that this was the question that would fit it all together.

Rhea leans back as she lights a cigarette, "At the time, no one knew. However Yanlo had become confused so to speak, about his own morals and that would lead to your answer."…

**20/05/2157- Chora's Den, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It's been three days since both the Executor and Juna were both killed by two different killers. The news has hit the Citadel like wild fire though some remain unfazed during the chaos. Yanlo is one of these people as he sits in Chora's Den with a drink in his hand as he sips the blue liquid and tastes it, enjoying every drop. However his expression is not one of joy but one of bitterness and impatience as he is expecting someone though the bar is empty as every patron doesn't want any trouble from C-Sec who was investigating the murder of their leader.

Yanlo wasn't C-Sec, he was a member of the Special Task Group, though he was in training at this very time it was still of no consequence as he had made a promise to an old friend though unlike Pallin he isn't going to wait through procedure. This is apparent as someone walks to him via the toilets and sits next to the salarian and in response he does nothing.

"So you came?" Yanlo says surprised though his expression doesn't say it.

"Of course, anything in the name of credits?" says Tido smiling, "You know when my friend gave me the message, I couldn't believe it would be from someone like you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" a calm Yanlo asks.

Tido leans on one side as he scans his new friend, "Well look at you. Salarian, STG, you wouldn't hire me unless it was personal."

"Something like that, a favour for a friend." Yanlo is obviously up to something.

Tido laughs before turning serious, "Well I don't give a flying fuck, just as long as you pay me."

Yanlo takes another sip of his drink, "I gave you my offer, for you and your friend I will give you ten-thousand credits each and help you get off the Citadel."

"I think we have a deal." Tido chinks his glass against Yanlo's and drinks up with a smile yet again.


	10. The Bullet Chain: Part IV

**Chapter X: The Bullet Chain: Part IV**

**21/05/2157- C-Sec Academy, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It has been four days since the tragedy that hit C-Sec as many officers are in mourning over the death of their leader, the Executor who had died at the hand of project K-Thousand, or is now identified as Krieg though many wouldn't use that name.

Pallin is still on the investigation though it is more paperwork than anything as he is sitting in his office which he shares with his partner Santi. Both are wearing their uniforms and sit at their consoles typing as they continue to do work on the case that has since resulted in the death of a drell doctor, a salarian marine, a hanar ambassador and finally the death of one female turian Spectre.

Santi is covering this part of the paperwork as she fills in the details while Pallin is researching a name that was given in his employer's dying breathes. His face is that of frustration as he doesn't seem to find anything among the data records and slams his fist on the desk in frustration.

"Calm down Pallin, we'll get him." Santi assures his partner who is under a lot of pressure now.

He lets out a loud sigh, "I know. It's not that though. It's what the Executor said. 'Regards from Sintarrio', I'm trying to find some information on this person but all the files are classified or lead to viruses."

"Maybe K-Thousand was just trying to put us off his trail. Maybe Rhea T'Anya can make sense of it all, she'll be arriving soon." Santi says having faith.

"You're right, I'll relax for a bit." he turns to his colleague, "So, have we had any word on K-thousand?"

Santi turn as she stops typing, "We found a blood trail. It was his blood, but by the time he made to the wards we lost him."

"Huh, any word on Tido?" he asks.

She shakes her head, "Nope, we can't find Quard either. It was interesting what we did find in Juna's home."

"What?" Pallin is intrigued with what she has to say.

She smiles, "Well we found the exact equipment that we were trying to obtain in that warehouse, and when we had access to her account she had been working with Quard for the past two years, counterfeiting credits."

"That's why she didn't want me talking to him, encase he spilled the truth to me." Pallin thinks for a second, "Wait, she must have trusted him for a whole year with the scheme, for one of them she was with that other Batarian, Vlax's ship."

"The Dirt-Boat? Yeah, she left him in charge for that time. And with that money she funded Red Sand dealers in Asari Space, with the attention breaking the syndicate." Santi explains linking how the events on Vlax's ship were because of events on the Citadel.

"So she was stopping crime by doing crime? This why I don't trust Spectre's." Pallin says.

Santi turns back to her console, "Fair enough."

"Hello?" a voice is heard from the other side of the office as Rhea stands in the doorway in her white dress, "Officer Pallin?"

The turian stands up to see the asari, "Miss T'Anya, please take a seat." she weakly smiles while she sits on the chair opposite. "Would you like a drink?"

She raises her palm to decline, "No thank you."

"This is my partner, Officer Santi." Pallin says as Rhea turns and smiles at the other asari before turning back, "You're aware of why you're here?"

"Yeah, I heard about Juna. Sorry about your boss dying." Rhea says with deep feeling.

Pallin smiles in appreciation, "Thank you. Rhea, I need you to tell me what Juna said to you when she visited you place exactly six days ago. Can you tell me?"

The young asari recounts the events and tells them, "Well, she let herself into my mother's apartment and told me, my mother and Thal…err…my boyfriend that Krieg had escaped and was responsible for the death of Captain Nemus and Talis." after she is finished she has a confused look as Pallin is looking over to Santi, "What, am I in trouble?"

The turian realizes that he is giving off the wrong impression, "No, no I fact you've clarified something for us. You see what she told you, she didn't tell us therefore she knew it was K-Thousand and from withholding that information from us got her killed."

"How come?" Rhea asks in curiosity.

Pallin explains, "Well think about it, if Juna would of just said that K-Thousand was the killer, then we would of prepared greater for it we would've taken you into protection along with those close to the project. She didn't however because she sent me to find a wanted criminal instead, who was one who killed her."

"I see, sorry." Rhea knows that nothing can be done but that information could have saved her life.

"It's not your fault, it was hers." he picks up of what's left of Thal's Mail-Messenger and puts in on the desk so Rhea can see it, "We recovered this by her body, it belongs to Thalian Arterius, your boyfriend."

She looks at it and scans it carefully but doesn't know the purpose of Pallin's reason to show her, "What is it?"

"It Mail-Messenger that the Turian Military uses to keep officer informed of orders, events. He left it in the apartment when he left." Pallin states

"Did he, I didn't know?" Rhea states innocently.

Pallin continues, "Well according to you mother you were crying at the time."

"Wait, that was four days ago. You were at my home."

"I was following the lead Juna gave me, he stole your boyfriend's equipment and Juna knocked me out before I could arrest him."

"Figures." Rhea sneers at this knowing that betrayal wouldn't be surprising.

Pallin nods in agreement, "Don't worry, I know what she was like too. She jeopardized this investigation to cover her tracks." He lets out a loud sigh, "Listen, I'm not going to lie to you Miss T'Anya I concerned for your safety."

"My safety?" Rhea looks at the officers in confusion.

Pallin pauses before telling her, "We tried various methods of contact but mother was insistent that we leave you alone."

"Yeah, she doesn't trust C-sec that much; you see she was a lawyer here in Internal Affairs." Rhea tells them knowing what her mother was like.

"I know, I checked her profile. She put away a lot of corrupt officers, but that shouldn't get in the way of your safety." Pallin insists as Santi walks over and sits on the desk by Rhea.

"From who?"

Santi continues for him, "K-Thousand, we haven't found him but he did tell us to give you a message, 'Regards from Sintarrio'."

"The pilot?" Rhea states knowing who he was.

Pallin looks at her sharply, "Wait, you've heard of him?"

She nods, "Yes, Thal told me about him. He was a pilot on his ship that defied orders and flew over the border into the Veil."

"I see. How come we didn't know that?" Pallin looks at Santi who is just as stumped. However he stands and puts his hand across the table, "Well this has been helpful Miss T'Anya, you have opened our eyes greatly now."

"Glad to be of help." she takes a small glass card and puts it in his hand as she shakes it, "Call me on that number if you want to get in touch, it'll stop you calling my mother."

"Thank you." Pallin replies and Santi gives off a smile as the young asari exits. Pallin looks at the glass and reads the asari writing before he looks at Santi and knows that they have some work to do.

As the official investigators are working on their case others had plans of their own and within one of the various warehouses on the citadel and standing in front of a crate was Yanlo who has an expression of concentration as he fixes his weapons while wearing his new attire for his mission. A black under layer complemented by murky grey-brown plating that makes him look more like a mercenary than STG as he puts together his weapon of choice which is an assault rifle made of the highest quality and he aims it before putting it on his back. He then pulls out his pistol and inspects it while he waits for someone to meet him within this suspicious location.

The salarian looks over to the far corner of the warehouse as he can hear the sound of a vehicle pulling into the place as it hovers a few meters above the ground before landing. The doors on the left side of the vehicle opens and stepping out of the driver's seat is Tido wearing his yellow, sleeveless armour and has a sniper-rifle on his back along with his duel pistols while his partner, Chek carries a shotgun in his hands and is inserting the thermal clip. The duo approach the salarian, Tido carrying his helmet in his left hand before putting on a nearby crate and shakes Yanlo's hand.

"Good to see you again." Chek says, "I'm glad that we can do business together."

Yanlo nods, "Well I hope it's worth it, I want this thing dead."

Tido smiles, "Yeah, this guy caused me some trouble up on the Presidium." he says leaning on one of the crates.

"I know, but the officer in charge was given the wrong information. Like us he is now going after the real killer." Yanlo states.

"Sounds risky, what do we have that C-Sec doesn't?" Chek asks him.

The Salarian walks over to where he was standing originally and grabs a handle, revealing a large cylinder briefcase. Bringing it to another create he puts it on top and opens it as the other two crowd around, "This."

"Where did you get this?" Chek looks at what in the briefcase in amazement.

Yanlo shuts the case, "Barla Von, he acquired it personally from a source two days ago. He was going to sell it to the Shadow Broker."

"I thought the Shadow Broker only trades information?" Chek wonders as he knows how the Shadow Broker works.

The salarian smiles, "Yeah, but with something like this information can wait."

"How much did it cost you?" Tido is intrigued about the contents worth.

"Nothing, I stole it." Yanlo says as he picks up the case.

"Nice." says a nodding Tido.

Yanlo continues, "Anyway, the plan is to send this thing to C-sec, keep them occupied while we find him."

Chek nods in agreement, "That's sounds like a good idea; giving C-Sec that thing will trace them to Barla Von and keep them from tracking us."

Tido adds to the conversation, "You sure you want to do this? This shit is worth a lot."

"No, I want K-Thousand dead." Yanlo says with intent.

The drell looks at briefcase before shrugging it off, "Okay, let's do it."

Chek brings up his Omni-tool and opens a hologram of the Presidium, "Well Tido visited the T'Anya apartment when he was asked to get a Mail-Messenger for a client; however things turned sour with that."

"How so?" Yanlo asks him while look at the image

"You don't want to know, let's just say she won't be a problem anymore." Tido says, "And as for that equipment, it is taken care of."

Chek continues, "Back to the point. From what you told me, this thing will most likely going to visit her or at least watch her from a distance."

"He's stalking her? How do you gather that?" Tido asks interested in his new target.

"Well from what Yanlo told me, K-Thousand regarded her as his best friend, even to the point of affection, so it's a safe bet. Also I hacked into the C-Sec achieves on the apartment block and they said that there were recent complaints of something scaling the building, though no robberies were committed." Chek explains.

Yanlo looks at the quarian surprised, "I'm surprised they would notice him?"

"I'm not, even on the presidium there is always some form of sensor, cameras, motion detectors, that's probably where the reports came from. That equipment is built for tracing those who wear stealth-tools. I prefer the door because no one suspects it, risky, but effective." Tido adds clarifying why he walked out of the apartment rather than climb out.

"So would you suggest that way?" Yanlo asks.

Tido shakes his head, "No, we need split up in order to cover all areas." he states pointing at the other side of the presidium, "I should find a vantage point over there and take him out if he scales the block."

"What about us?" asks Chek.

"Chek, you and Yanlo will infiltrate the building, corner him."

Yanlo nods, "That's a good plan; you cover the outside, while we'll strike within."

The drell smiles as Chek closes his Omni-tool, "Well I try." he finishes before the three of them head to his vehicle and begin their mission. Tido lets Yanlo in the passenger seat before he gets in the driver's seat while Chek sits in the back as they take off out of the warehouse.

A few hours after his interview with Rhea, Pallin is still sitting in his office and has a variety of electronic clipboards on his desk, filled with information on various assignments. He is leaning back with a cup in his left hand while holding one of these clipboards in his right, reading the information written in a language he can understand. While he is doing this Santi walks in and sits at her desk as well, but isn't as tense as her turian colleague.

Meanwhile outside of the office sit a badly bruised Quard. The batarian who was the owner of club called Chora's Den near the wards. He was arrested by Pallin the day before Juna died though he never was given any information as Juna took over the interrogation before Pallin could find anything out. The batarian is now wearing different attire from the flamboyant robes that he wore. He now wears black boots with dark red pants and jacket that is fastened up but a few inches below the neck, seeing a black shirt underneath. He is still wearing his eye patches which cover his top eyes and his bottom left eye.

The single eye watches the various officers walking past him as he sits on the chair with his hands cuffed. However a certain person catches his eye as he walks towards the location. The person was C-Sec though his attire was not of a simple officer.

He was turian who wore a black suit with blue lining on the sleeves and opening of his jacket. He has blue epaulets on his suit with a C-Sec insignia on the right and four logos on the left that resemble a silhouette of the Citadel. The turian himself was a pale red and has no face marking apart from a single white stripe across his nose and cheeks. This important looking person glances at the batarian and looks at him with disgust while passing him before entering Pallin and Santi's office, who in response stand up out of respect.

"Sir?" Pallin says recognizing the turian.

"Relax officers." the turian states in a deep posh voice with a trademark humming coming from the voice-box.

Pallin sits down while Santi looks at the Turian, "Commissioner Vetos, how are you sir?"

"Very well thank you officer, but I'm not here for light chatter." he responds as he turns to Pallin, "Officer Pallin, how is the paperwork?"

Pallin glares at his superior, "Fine." he says in response to the Commissioner who is now sitting on Santi's desk.

"Good, getting you out of the field for a bit can do you some good."

"What do you mean sir?"

"Well when the former Executor assigned you to K-Thousand, you were under a lot of pressure." the uniformed turian picks up one of the clipboards from Santi's desk, "When it escaped, you were in firing line from us up on the Presidium. Lucky for you that the Executor pleaded your case otherwise you would have been out of here."

"Sorry you're disappointed, sir." Pallin replies.

The Commissioner smiles, "Oh but I'm not, you see the Executor was already having problems with the Council and with us. He wasn't seen to be what we as a security force were made for."

"He wasn't corrupt sir." Santi adds defending both the Executor and Pallin.

He turn his head to her, "Of course not, but he was an idealist. That's something dangerous when it comes into politics especially on the Citadel. When the Hanar Ambassador was killed we were going to use that as the catalyst to begin monitoring the efficiency of our current representative."

She looks in confusion, "You were going to spy on him?"

"Yes, it was necessary."

"How? What justifies 'you' monitoring your own boss?" Pallin asks seeing the lack of morality in that action.

He turns to Pallin, "We wanted to see the approach that the Executor would investigate the assassination. If we have a look, he hired you for starters, because of the whole K-Thousand fiasco you were sent back dealing with the riff raff in the wards. Not exactly the best choice." the light red turian stands, "Then there was the joint investigation with the Spectre's, another questionable decision that sent you on leads that weren't even related to the case and because of that it caused his death, makes me feel better because I would have had to fire him otherwise."

Pallin stands up and has his fists on the table, "Listen here bare-face, you might be the one who mingles with the politicians up there on the Presidium but its people like us that give you that privilege and you were afraid of the Executor."

"Afraid, why?" the Commissioner laughs at the statement before Pallin continues.

"Think about it, he was the only one of you that hadn't sold out to the Council. I mean, look at you?"

"Me?"

"You come down here and order us around but in the end you've never done a single day in keeping the wards safe, you're just the face of our good results." Pallin smirks at himself, "You never even saw a weapon until you came down here. Off the record, you may outrank me Commissioner but at least I have the respect of the people down here." he calms down and sits down

The other turian stands in frustration with his employer though he knows that he speaks the truth, "Good day, Officers." he responds with the addition of a courtesy nod.

"Ouch." Santi says looking at her colleague, "I can't believe that guy is in charge of this ward? He didn't even do his initial training."

Pallin sneers, "He did his service in the military like me, but his father was a diplomat here on the Citadel so he pulled some strings to get him promoted to a high rank. Now, he enjoys the good life." he leans forward to look outside, "Shall we bring in Quard?"

"Sure." Santi replies as she stands up and walks outside grabbing the batarian by the arm and escorts him inside and places him on the chair opposite Pallin, "Did you miss us, Quard?" she asks.

Quard sighs in boredom as he has been waiting outside for a while, "Well you kept me long enough. I already answered C-Sec's questions."

"No, you answered Juna's questions. Now you'll have to answer some more." Pallin states before he continues, "I need to know what exactly happened in your interview with Juna. All evidence was deleted."

"Really?" Quard smiles.

"Hey four-eyes answer the fucking question." Santi states in frustration.

"Racism, didn't think you asari were capable of such emotion?" the batarian leans back and smiles.

Pallin sighs, "Quard, cut the crap. You know Juna's dead, but she deleted all records of the interview she had with you. I need to know what you were talking about."

Quard looks at him and then Santi, "Fuck off." he simply says.

Pallin looks at Santi who smiles as she stands up and grabs Quard by the cuffs "Quard, you're under arrest for trading illegal goods, counterfeiting credits, fraud and suspicion of murder."

Quard looks at the turian while struggling, "Suspicion of murder, whose murder."

"Juna's of course." Santi replies for him.

Pallin leans forward, "We know that you were her business partner in the credit scam."

Quard relaxes and is allowed to sit down again, "What do you want to know?"

Pallin smiles now he has his criminal where he wants him, "Well let's start with the interview. What did she ask you?"

"She didn't ask me anything to do with Tido, which was you 'lead' at the time." he sighs, "We hired Tido and his quarian friend and originally to head to the Terminus Systems to pick up some new codes and credit equipment."

"We have that equipment." Santi states.

The batarian looks at the asari before looking back at Pallin, "Well, the deal we had was with a member of the Bloodpack who sneaked onto the Citadel, though neither me nor Juna could do the deal personally because we were aware that you were onto us. We didn't expect someone like that Sniper though."

"Wait, you didn't send that Sniper?" Pallin asks him recounting the events of when the Sniper shot down the krogan and the vorcha in the warehouse.

"No, I didn't and Juna didn't either. She told me that she sent Tido up to Presidium to get some sort of Mail-Messenger from some turian."

Pallin's attention is at its climax as he is getting more information than he had hoped, "Wait, why would that be?"

Quard is reluctant, "Listen, I don't know much. I think she was looking into something, something that she wasn't supposed to."

Pallin just nods at him knowing that what he says is innocent, "Okay, Santi take him to the cells."

"Will do." she escorts Quard outside and they take a left,leaving Pallin alone as he brings up his console and types in a number to bring up a link between him and another number.

"Pallin, how can I help?" a voice asks him.

"Did you decrypt the contents of Juna's files yet?" Pallin asks.

"Just about, sir. The Council gave us permission to look in the deceased's mission files, the investigation into the murders of the Nemus and Talis were her only assignment."

Pallin gives a face of disappointment, "What about her personal records?"

"Well she did have a few strange messengers on her account. One states that the Mail-Messenger that you found was somehow connected this message from the Turian Hierarchy. I'll transmit it now." a few seconds of download sound before something appears on his screen in turian writing.

_Juna,_

_We at Hierarchy Command are afraid to inform you that the information that you've requested is unfortunately not available at this time. We understand your connection with Flight Commander Sintarrio though the circumstances of his death are still not confirmed and the investigation is still on-going. We will however forward any information we can to this address._

Pallin reads the message, "Can you do me a favour? Can you find the connection between Juna and this Sintarrio guy?"

"Yes sir." the voice responds before the link dies out and Pallin looks at the message in deep thought hoping to find what it all means.

Though the Executor is dead and so was Juna there are two different killers on the Citadel that are wanted by the law. The first is a drell known throughout the galaxy as Tido and was famous for his acts of destruction and disturbance and is already beginning an operation of his own at this very moment.

The other killer was more of a mystery though his presence was becoming more and better known to the public though he was well known to a few people. That killer was named Krieg and he was currently sitting on the edge of the balcony outside of Rhea's bedroom. His attire has changed since he murdered the Executor as his victim shot him in the stomach a few times.

He now wears more conventional armour that was of medium standard and has a dark blue under layer and black plates. His mask is still the same and remains undamaged with the cowl made from a silver alloy with glowing blue eyes while the bottom half resembles a quarian breathing apparatus.

As it is late evening the light is almost gone on the presidium so no one can see him as he sits on the balcony with his left hand held towards his ear like he is listening in on something. In fact he is listening in on Rhea sitting downstairs wearing a more formal gown; it is dark blue with sleeves and bares no shoulders. Vessana is also wearing something similar in dark blue with an addition of a hat that was worn by Matriarchs. Like her daughter she is sat at the other end of the table and is eating the same meal as her, an alien form of vegetable dish. The atmosphere is that of silence as the two eat there meal and don't look at each other like they don't want to or they have fallen out because of something.

Vessana does however glance over to the other side of the table, "Service was decent yesterday wasn't it?"

Rhea swallows her food before answering, "Yes, it was. I'm surprised about how many people were invited."

"Yeah, the Executor was a very well-loved person." her mother adds.

"Did you work with him?" Rhea asks as her, indicating her past.

"No, when I was with C-Sec he was just a constable." she answers while shaking her head. The Matriarch pauses for a few seconds before speaking, "I had a call from C-Sec today saying thanks. What did they want?"

"Does it matter?" Rhea asks avoiding the subject.

She puts her eating tools down and glares, "Well, yes it does. I know what C-sec is like, Rhea. They wanted to question you about K-Thousand."

"You mean Krieg?" her daughter corrects her.

Vessana sighs, "Why do you insist on calling him that, I saw what he looked like. He looked like nothing that exists on the face of the galaxy."

Rhea looks down, "So? He was a friend to me, he is deserving of at least a name."

"Not after the death of the Ambassador it doesn't."

The daughter slams her hands on the table, "That's enough mother, I said I would go in today for a few routine questions in their investigation. They didn't specify but it is none of your business either." She looks out the window then back at her mother, "This why I left the first time, you were constantly interfering with my life."

"I just want what's best for you." she says hoping to get through to her.

"You want what best for me?" Rhea sneers and stands up, "Thalian asked if I would join his ship, in the medical wing."

"What?" this is the first her mother has heard about this and is surprised.

Rhea nods, "Before he left, he wanted to be with me, for real. I said I'd think about it, now I've thought!" she finishes before walking off up to her room.

Vessana gives out a loud sigh though this is last thing that is heard of the conversation between them. Krieg was listening in on the whole conversation but sees Rhea entering her room from the corner of his eye and immediate jumps off the balcony but keeps on the edge with his hands as he pulls himself up and peeks at her.

Rhea is undressing herself, the first time he has seen her alone with nothing but her smooth blue skin and feminine body. She approaches the window as it is a one-way though Krieg can see through with his mask. The male figure switches on his stealth systems as he disappears and climbs over the balcony and slowly walks towards the glass, standing only but a foot away.

Rhea puts her right hand on the glass and in response; Krieg puts his left hand against hers gently. Not making a sound though they are but a few inches away from contact. Krieg uses this opportunity as he channels himself into Rhea as she closes her eyes and opens them to reveal them to be diluted.

As this is happening outside of the apartment both Yanlo and Chek are each hiding behind one of the pillars in the hallway as they had pinpointed Krieg to this spot. Yanlo himself had his helmet on so that his face wouldn't be recognized and was holding his assault rifle while Chek held his shotgun and are both ready to go.

Chek nods his head as Yanlo throws a grenade towards the door of the apartment. It spins swiftly as it attaches itself to the door. Yanlo then waits a few second before pressing the button which is followed a short silence before the explosion begins. It shreds the door apart and causes additional damages to the walls which were now marked with black.

Vessana is within the apartment when this happens but lucky for her she was too far away from the explosion as she managed to take cover underneath the table. When she gets out from underneath she is met by the two responsible for the damage and immediately believes that they are here for Rhea as she gets up and pushes them back with a biotic push. She continues to approach the two and lifts Yanlo up with her biotics as she flings him even further away from the apartment door while Chek reaches for his shotgun.

This effort is futile as Vessana kicks it away from the Quarian as she begins to lift him though he has a safety protocol as he switches on his Omni-tool to activate what looks like a confusion device as he seems to duplicate into five versions of himself, all floating around her. Vessana despite knowing she has the real Chek in her grasp is surprised when she feels the hand of one of these duplicate grab her trip her up, allowing all of the Chek's to land on their feet.

Vessana looks forwards as she sees all five Chek's standing in front of her like a unit before they meld back into the original and creates a shield and traps her as she struggles but it is futile. Yanlo gets up and looks at the Matriarch with amusement as the two carry on into the apartment where things have gotten very quiet as they hear nothing coming from all directions. They keep their weapons on-guard ready to shoot but evidently things are looking neither good nor bad. They head up the staircase and into the room that is open in front of them which happens to be Rhea's bedroom as she continues to stand where she was before Krieg entered her mind, naked.

"Who's that?" Chek asks from a distance.

Yanlo approaches and examines the frozen asari as she looks into her black eyes, "That's Rhea. Though that's strange, her eyes are diluted, like she is melding." He turns to see Krieg's stealth systems shut down as he grabs the salarian with his biotics and slams him into the glass window, the third major hit he has had.

Chek immediately lifts his shotgun and fires at Krieg. Though the glass smashes, and gives the alien time to dive off the balcony, "SHIT! Tido he is on the move!" he says as he helps Yanlo up and the two of them head down stairs.

"What about her up there?" Yanlo states as the two of them stop in the main room of the apartment.

Chek stands firm, "Listen pal, I was hired to get that kill this thing for you, so let me do my job." he responds.

Yanlo simply nods knowing that Krieg was the priority as they head out of the apartment. The two of them head out onto the apartments first floor to find Vessana still pinned down by Chek's shields but they just ignore her as they pace themselves towards the opening elevator and enter it. They wait about ten seconds before they walk out at the ground floor again. Heading out of the foyer of the apartment bock they look around the plaza of this part of the presidium to find that the streets are clear. Both of them keep vigilant as they don't know if Krieg is still here within this area but they are also unaware of Tido whereabouts either.

"Chek, Chek are you there?"

Chek immediately speaks, "We're here Tido, where did he go?"

"From up here I don't know, he disappeared as soon as he hit the ground." Tido says revealing his position to be about one-hundred feet opposite the T'Anya apartment and laid on top of an apartment roof pointing his sniper-rifle and currently looking at the pair, "I don't pick anything on the scope either, how much time do you think we have with the diversion?"

Chek pauses for a second, "Not sure?" responds before Krieg reappears ready to fight.

Yanlo shouts, "There he is!" and fires his weapon but Krieg has attacked first as he uses a biotic charge phasing through the bullets and finishes with a head butt in the helmet of Yanlo, the battle begins.

Tido tries to get a few shots in but Krieg is too fast as he knocks down Yanlo. He then immediately disarms Chek and trips him with a sweep. The salarian retaliates by pulling his pistol and shooting the armoured alien a few times only this time Krieg is prepared as his shields block the bullets. In retaliation Krieg grabs Yanlo by the armoured chest-plate and throws him across the plaza and he bounces a few times before landing on the ground not moving a muscle as the position in which he is in gives the impression that he has been knocked out in the process.

This gives Chek time to get up and face Krieg one on one. Though the differences in power between the two are great the quarian has a few tricks up his sleeves. Krieg attacks first with approaching Chek and swinging his right fist in for a hook but Chek ducks and hit's the alien in the stomach. Surprisingly Krieg is flung back though his feet land on the ground but not without having some time to get his composure back while Chek prepares himself for a fist fight though his fists and fore-arms a covered by a set of light blue shields,similar to the ones that were currently pinned Vessana in the hallway. These 'gloves' are his only form of defence and have enough force to protect his body against anything possible.

Krieg sees the central statue in this plaza to be that of an asari as he uses his biotic ability to lift the monument and break it in two, sending the pieces towards Chek. The quarian prepares himself for the first piece with a left straight as he spins it out of the way and knocks the other piece of statue into the wall with a right backhand.

The two run towards each other ready to duel as they start fist fighting on the presidium showing their prowess in their styles as quarian uses his hands to block the various attacks that Krieg puts in, which are surprisingly sloppy as his combination of a left straight, right hook and back-hand were very easy for the quarian to dodge as he returns to the fight as he ducks and uses his left hand to scoop his legs.

Krieg falls to the ground yet immediately rolls left as Chek attempts to punch his face while on the floor leaving a mark as his lifts his hand back up. Krieg kicks himself up and attempts a second attempt. This time is more successful as he starts with a low kick to the stomach and follows with jabbing Chek face twice, cracking his visor and in response Chek steps back to defend himself knowing that it would be fatal if his suit was given exposure.

While the fight continues on the Presidium, Vessana is still trapped underneath Chek's shields though his fight with Krieg is disrupting them and she rolls out of them quickly before they activate again. The matriarch gets up and looks at her door and sees the damage that Chek and Yanlo have caused though she does know why this has happened.

She immediately walks through to see that they didn't cause any damage but still she rushes upstairs to see if her daughter is safe. She runs through the doorway to find that her daughter is still standing there, facing the now open balcony courtesy of Chek's shotgun. She approaches her daughter and turns her to see her eyes which are still black from the beginning of the melding process. She realizes what has happened to her but looks at her reluctant to attempt what she is about to do as she puts her hands on her face and begins the to link minds with her. Vessana eyes open to reveal them to be diluted black yet they flicker at the same time like she was in a trance.

Rhea immediately wakes up to find her mother drop to the ground. She looks at the state of the room though her mother on the ground concerns her as she helps her up, "Mother, what happened?"

Vessana stands up a little dazed about what happened though Rhea is none the wiser, "I'm fine Rhea, I'm just glad you're okay."

Rhea takes another look around grabbing her silk gown from the bed and putting it on covering her body, "What happened here?"

Vessana pauses before she recalls the events, "Some people came here, but they left afterwards. A quarian trapped me in- she pauses as she hears the sound of Chek and Krieg fighting below.

The two of them head towards the balcony to find both Chek and Krieg still fist-fighting though by now there duel has gotten the notice of many C-sec officers that have approached the area due to the disturbance they were creating.

Many of the residents were watching from their apartments as it was night on the presidium and by this time Chek gets the upper hand as he duck and follows with an uppercut, sending the alien into the air and debris from his mask shreds off the cowl and the jaw revealing some of his face as his grey cheek and black eye are revealed. As Krieg lands on the ground he knows that some of the sparks from his mask are affecting his sight as he takes off his mask to reveal his fac.

Rhea looks from the balcony in disbelief. His expression is emotionless and his spiny-charcoal hair is non-existent apart from a few bits sticking out on the right side while the left side bares a tattoo on his bald scalp. The origin and design of this tattoo is unknown however it's not the focus of his head, as his eyes are almost hypnotic as he begins a biotic bombardment.

The C-sec officers begin to feel the air beneath their feet as they are lifted into the air and form and spiral as they are flung towards Chek, fed one after the other. Chek knows that he can't afford to kill the officers being lead towards him so as soon as they make contact, he grabs them toss them gently to his left and right though the force is hard but not enough to kill them. By the time the Krieg has used all of the officers Chek is almost close enough to attack.

Krieg without his helmet immediately attacks Chek with a kick to the abdomen sending him back into the wall. Not far from this is Yanlo who is just about getting up and stretches before he prepares himself by taking out his pistol out and pointing at the now revealed Krieg.

"Krieg?" Rhea mumbles under voice as she looks at what's left of the friend she knew.

Meanwhile on the opposite set of apartments Tido stands up holding his sniper-rifle as he aims for Krieg's body. He is breathing slowly calming himself and pulls the trigger to let loose the thermal bullet as it begins its journey towards the grey alien.

The other two on the ground keep vigilante ready for his attack though as the bullet penetrates the shoulder of the unsuspected Krieg who screams in pain. Seizing the opportunity Yanlo fires a few rounds at the alien hitting him in the stomach; though after a few shots his shields deactivate steps aside while Chek attempts of a running straight. Failing, Chek is grabbed by the arm and flung into the air while Krieg turns his attention to Yanlo.

This time the salarian is prepared as he throws a disc grenade towards Krieg who cartwheels out the way. However as it explodes it leads to Krieg losing balance and falls to the ground. Yanlo takes a clip from his armour and places it into his pistol as he again fires. Krieg believes it's just a simple bullet but when impact occurs. Krieg is pushed back at an alarming rate as the bullets are packed with pressure and forces the victim aback like they were hit at fifty miles an hour.

However Krieg recovers in mid-air with his biotics and hovers above the ground which surprises the salarian. Yanlo is unprepared to the next attack as Chek was about to hit the ground but is instead pushed by biotics into Yanlo. No serious injuries occur to either but gives enough time for Krieg to lift them both with his biotics.

Rhea is looks as the friend she once knew now reduced to a savage and was playing with the two aliens like it was a joke, "I've got to go down there."

"No Rhea, he's too dangerous." Vessana protests as she watches Krieg throw Chek across the plaza.

Tido on the other hand is making his way down the last set of steps before he gets into the plaza himself holding his sniper rifle firmly as he points it towards the grey alien who now using both hand to hold Yanlo as the salarian floats in the air upside down and his limbs stretched out, torturing him. The drell pulls the trigger and the bullet hits Krieg in his right hand. With this Krieg let's go of his hold on Yanlo and looks at his hand, seeing that both the index and the middle finger are no longer attached and looks at the floor to see them.

As he is about to pick them up he is met by Yanlo who now holds his pistol again and kicks the Krieg in the face taking him by surprise though Krieg quickly recovers by sweeping the legs of the salarian. As he falls to the ground Krieg quickly mounts on top of him punches Yanlo and cracks his helmet and continues until the visor is broken and Yanlo's eyes can be seen. He looks up to see Krieg eyes and within he sees an echo of the monster from the vision that he had when he first met him, hypnotizing him into submission.

However this is interrupted by Tido firing another bullet from his rifle into the right shoulder, grabbing Krieg attention. The drell realizes his error when Krieg turns and looks at him with eyes glaring and begins to approach him quickly. Tido points his rifle and fire a round though this time Krieg moves his head to the left while running and repeats this when another two shots are fired. Krieg immediately grabs the barrel of the rifle and pulls the gun away from Tido who cobbles forward before Krieg swings the weapon around by the barrel and straight back in to Tido's face.

Tido falls to the ground and his vision is impaired for a second but while he tries to see Krieg holds the rifle as he walks to the centre of the plaza where Tido, Chek and Yanlo are standing apart from each other surrounding Krieg. Krieg pulls the various weapons that they carried, Yanlo's assault rifle and pistol, Chek's shotgun and Tido sniper rifle and lifts them in a circle like he did the C-sec officer's only this time he takes the weapons apart, piece by piece as the metal falls to the ground.

Tido however still is armed with his duel pistol and Chek still has one on hand as well but they know it is a bad idea to pull them out against Krieg who is now the victor of this skirmish. Krieg does act upon this as he uses a biotic grab and flings one of Tido's pistols toward Yanlo and the salarian immediately grabs it, each having a weapon in their right hand. All three are confused with Krieg's behaviour as he hasn't spoken a word but the time for thinking was over as Krieg was ready to begin his final move.

Somehow, all three of them begin to feel a sensation in their bodies as their feet feel planted on the ground while their left hand is raised and put on the back of their necks. All three of them raise their armed hand and the barrel of the weapon would face the side of their cheeks pointing toward their brains. They can't control themselves as all three of them are about to pull the trigger.

"KRIEG!" Rhea shouts who is now down in the plaza coming down while Krieg was fighting; Vessana herself was in the foyer holding the wall as she watched her daughter catch the attention of Krieg who has now turned around to see his friend.

He tilts his head like he doesn't recognize the name though he eventually looks with realization, "R…R…Rhea?" This confrontation releases all three of Krieg's control of their own bodies as the all point their pistols toward the great alien and fire. Each bullet passes through Krieg as he screams in pain and the trio walk closer to get better shots at him. The grey alien moves from standing, to kneeing and eventually is lying on his back in an uncomfortable position.

Tido is the first to reach the body of the near dead Krieg as he looks up towards the drell who smiles as he points his pistol at him, "It's a shame, you would of made one hell of a trophy." he looks up towards Rhea who is in shock of the display she has witnessed then looks back, "Well, I guess I just have to settle with a good story instead…see ya!" and shoots Krieg in the left eye causing his body to stop moving.

Witnessing the display of which the drell created Rhea immediately runs up to the corpse of the alien as she holds his head in her arms looking at the bullet wound that scars his face. Seeing no life she closes the other eye and a tear falls on to the left cheek of his face as Rhea's compassion for her friend wasn't lost.

She looks up at Tido who is standing guard ready to flee the scene. Chek gives him the nod and the two of them make a break for it while Yanlo stays and walks towards a part of Krieg that dispatched from him earlier in the battle. He picks up the alien's index finger exams it. Interested, he puts it in a pouch around his waist and approaches Rhea who is still upset.

"It had to end this way, people were hurt." He says to her before heading in the direction of the other two.

Vessana walks over to her daughter and knees beside the corpse and looks at what's left of his face and can't help but show remorse, "He looks sad almost, confused." She says before giving out a weak cough. It's around this time that the C-Sec air-cars have reached the presidium and the officers who were on the scene already were either recovering or setting a perimeter.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"And there you have it." Rhea says as she puts out her cigarette on the table.

"Wait, so Krieg was the key component of an attack that happened on the Citadel and no one knows about it? Why?"

"The Council wanted it to be kept all hush hush, if you know what I mean? Krieg caused them enough trouble and the information of his existence would have put the council in more of a hole than they were already in. It took a lot of effort to calm the hanar when they found out."

"Yeah, I still don't get that. How did they find out? I know people knew but how would you get information like that to a whole race?" Joker wonders knowing something had to have gone on to cause this whole ordeal.

"The Council and C-Sec knew what to do; years of training in propaganda helped them with covering the truth. It was around this time that my faith in the Council began to fade and things were becoming clearer. They began focusing on humanity to take their minds off the past events; they didn't care about those who suffered because of it."

"What happened to you?" Joker asks her as he leans in form his position on the couch.

A tear rolls down her cheek, "I don't want to. It's just that-" she starts to breath heavily, like she is trying fight back the tears. She stands up and hastily walks to the bathroom and the door slides shut behind her.

Joker gets up as quickly as possible and approaches the door though the red light on the side indicates that it is locked. He slams the door a few times, "Rhea? Rhea, are you okay?"

On the other side of the door Rhea is sitting against it and is crying, "Yeah, I fine Joker. You just hit a weak spot that's all."

Joker sits down against the door as well and realizes his error as he feels guilt over what has happened, "I'm sorry, Rhea. You just-"

She interrupts, "It's okay Joker, you're right. I was going to have to tell you about sooner or later. You know that I envy you, as a race. You live so short yet long enough to understand the pain when your world, universe is torn apart and there is no one for you to say 'hold on' even just for another second."

"What happened? You can tell me." Joker says before speaking again, "You can't blame me for being curious."

She smiles knowing that was true, "When thinking back, I didn't realize how bad everything was for me; at the time I thought it was just a part of life. That's what Asari religion does for you, tells you to think of the future and the long term though it only takes a second to destroy that future."

Joker thinks for a second before asking, "How come?"

Rhea doesn't say anything but instead thinks to a specific moment of her life. She lets out a deep sigh as she stands up, "Can I be left alone Joker? I promised I'll tell you what happened when I feel better."

Joker nods his head despite the fact that Rhea's can't see him, "Okay, I'm going back to bed for another few hours. I'll talk to you later." He finishes before standing up and walking into his bedroom.


	11. Old Questions, New Questions

**Chapter XI: Old Questions, New Questions**

**02/06/2157- C-Sec Academy, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It's been a few weeks since Krieg was killed at the hands of the two criminals Tido and Chek as well as the Special Task Group initiate called Yanlo though Rhea is none the wiser to who they were. The young asari is within C-sec academy but the reason for her being here hasn't been made clear as her worried expression shows while she is still waiting for someone to inform her or at least educate her on what was going on.

She is wearing black boots and tight burgundy pants with a belt around her waist. On her torso is a tank top of the same colour having gold patterns on the shoulder straps but at this time they are covered by a headscarf, though the hood isn't up at this time. As she waits outside the office of Pallin who isn't in at this time and Santi is typing at her console though she is very unhappy by her expression as she is busy with huge amounts of paperwork. Her partner is at the other end of the hall and is walking out of a small room in the corner. He also isn't very happy as he walks back down towards his office. He stops when he notices Rhea sitting outside of his office and she stands up in response of the eye contact.

He approaches her, "Miss T'Anya, what are you doing here?"

"I got a call to come here. They said I was going to be interviewed again because of, you know?" she answers implying that talk of Krieg is again forbidden.

Pallin gives off a weak smile as he nods, "Well this will be familiar to you. There is a guy in there asking questions. I'm just warning you." he finishes before heading back into his office where he continues his work with Santi.

"Thanks." she replies before heading where Pallin came from. She walks down the hallway and to the far door as it slides open and she steps inside and ends up in a small foyer before another set of doors slide open which leads to a dimly lighted room with a table and two chairs. "Hello?" she says trying to get picture of who the person is before her.

The figure stands up as he reveals his face. It is a male light red turian with blue markings across the left side of his face while the rights side is bare though his eye is covered by a visor. He wears a suit of a dark red with white pattern among its fabric revealed by the light, "Miss Rhea T'Anya I presume?" he asks smiling.

She approaches the turian and shakes his hand, "Yes, and you are?"

"Oristar Brutagus, Special Tactic and Reconnaissance." he states sitting down and getting comfortable.

"You're a spectre? That's why Pallin couldn't say anything?" Rhea immediately asks.

Brutagus laughs a little out of her catching on, "Yes. Listen, I been dropped into this. All you have to do is answer a few questions and then you can be on your way."

She looks at him for a second before agreeing and sitting down, "Okay, ask away."

The turian presses a button on the table to record the conversation, "Okay let's start with K-Thousand, don't worry we are allowed to talk about it in here. How did you meet the creature?" he asks wanting to know the origins of Krieg.

"I met him while in the terminus; he saved me from some mercenaries that were going to kill me." Rhea is honest to a degree failing to mention that she was a former member of Eclipse.

"And it saved you?" Brutagus implies.

She smiles and nods, "He saved me. We escaped to Omega and then onto a ship."

The turian picks up a clipboard with information, "The Dirt-Boat, owned by Vlax Dru'Kan. Which was ironically being used for a Spectre operation to stop Narcotics entering Asari Space?"

"Apparently." Rhea says knowing the consequences of Juna's actions led her here to the Citadel.

Brutagus sees the distain in Rhea's eyes, "Listen, I didn't agree with Juna's method but she got the job done. That would lead you two here, wouldn't it?"

Rhea remembers this incident and what happened, "Yes, I wasn't arrested however."

"Of course not, you mother was a respectable member of the Council's community. We wouldn't want her reputation going array do we?" he implies not agreeing on what went on in those events but accepts them; "Anyway, did you have any contact with K-Thousand after he was placed with the facility?"

She nods, "Once, but it was organised. I didn't know the place and it was kept top secret."

"Good, if you would of said otherwise I would know you were lying." his eyes squint for a second before asking his next question, "Tell me what was your relationship with K-Thousand, from the time you knew him?"

"What do you mean?" Rhea knows what is implied though she doesn't want to admit the attraction she had for him.

The turian leans in and gives a slimy smile, "Well, meeting each other, alone on a ship for nearly a year. You must have been close?"

"He was, a friend nothing more." Rhea says with intent but hesitant.

Brutagus holds his position for a second before leaning back, "Of course, I couldn't imagine you having relations with such an odd being. Now from what I understand you were there when Ambassador Veyanger was killed, I'm I correct. Though it wasn't until later that day Juna contacted you and stated that K-Thousand had escaped." he waits for a response and gets a simple nod before continuing, "Okay, you were not a part of the investigation in any other way, which was until Officer Pallin and Santi asked for information on that previous contact with Juna."

Rhea realizes that these questions were just recounting the events following her meeting Krieg again so questions the Spectre instead, "What is this about? You have asked me about Krieg and I have answered those questions. Now you are asking me questions about Juna?"

The Spectre is aware of his actions and in response he simply sighs, "I'll been honest with you Rhea, can I call you Rhea?" he leans in, "This investigation opened up many revelations, K-Thousand escaped, killed many that were responsible for him. Juna turned out to be a lot more accountable for her actions than we realized."

"I thought Spectres weren't accountable for their actions?" Rhea asks stating that they are normally able to get away with anything.

Brutagus immediately protests this, "Rhea, we as Spectres are expected to get the job done more than anything but there is a sense of morality that comes with it. Juna established herself a good Spectre, however now with the C-sec investigation into her death they've found that was guilty of being corrupt, even if ends justified the means."

"What do you mean? What did she do?" Rhea leans in as well hoping to find more on the women she hated with a passion.

"Juna was in league with well-known counterfeiter named Quard. Together, they forged and conned people out of credits. Recently those credits were used to fund those drug dealers during her mission in Asari Space, where she found you and K-Thousand." the Spectre puts it bluntly.

Rhea leans back on her chair in disbelief as she looks back at him, "Did she ever tell you why everything happened this way?"

He pauses not knowing the significance, "No she didn't. She stated that the opportunity arose and by the time she returned to the Citadel, the dealers had been dealt with."

"And were they?" Rhea asks wondering if Samara ever lived up to her end of the bargain.

"Yes, apparently a few Asari Jusitcars wiped out all the dealers." the turian tilts his head in interest, "Did she make a deal with them?"

"Yes, us for them. She saved our lives but arrested us afterwards." Rhea confesses.

"I see. That's why you don't like taking about her?" Brutagus inputs some information into his clipboard, "Can I ask you something else?"

"Why not?" Rhea says bored with the interview and doesn't see the purpose.

Bruatgus takes a sip from a class next to him and wait's a few seconds before he swallows, "When K-Thousand was killed, your initial statement says that you saw three assailants."

Rhea thinks back to that day and remembers the scene of her friend being shot endlessly by his killers, "Yes, there was a drell and quarian who I didn't recognize and then there was a salarian too, my mother saw both the quarian and salarian."

He picks up two dossiers and passes them to her, "Well we found out who those were. The quarian is Chek'Malal, he is a well-known hacker within the terminus hasn't been on the flotilla for years. His drell friend is none other than Tido the Great Insult, who is wanted for various murders."

Rhea looks at the face of Tido in the document and sneers, "How come you didn't you catch these two? I though criminals like this never escape the Citadel."

"Despite both their reputations, they also had a good plan. On the date of K-Thousand's death C-Sec got a delivery that was unexpected."

"What kind of delivery?" she raise her eyebrow hoping for an answer, "Come on, you not exactly C-Sec are you?"

"Officer's Pallin and Santi received a delivery of some armour, belonging to K-Thousand." he presses a button on the desk and brings a holographic image of the set, "The armour was the exact match to that of the assassin that killed the Executor a few days prior."

"And this was used as a decoy?" she wonders as she gets a look of the first set of armour that Krieg wore.

"Yes, plus an accountant named Barla Von contacted them and held them up demanding that they give him his property back." he switches the image off and takes the documents back from her, "He stated that he was robbed by a salarian, who we think is the third member of this trio."

"So what are you going to do about the killers? Are you going to kill them?"

Brutagus pulls a face of surprise because of the rash motive of what Rhea was implying, "Well I actually hope that we capture them rather than kill them. We have other Spectres looking into their whereabouts."

She nods in agreement knowing it to be the better course of action, "May I ask you another question?"

He laughs and leans back taking another sip of his drink, "Fire away, I owe you at least one."

"When the Council had Krieg in that facility, what did they find out?" she honestly asks him, wanting to know about her deceased friend.

"Why do you ask that?" he then notices that she really wants to know, "Well Doctor Yanlo's findings were lost when the facility was destroyed however Doctor Thenas' data stated that he was a natural and powerful biotic, a skilled marksman, a very good linguist, a very sentient life form. Too sentient in fact, his intellect concerned her but his lack of knowledge of his own worth was the research team's advantage."

"What do you mean? Are you saying he was a threat?"

"Tell me, when you travelled with him did ever see his biotic ability at the level you saw him before he died?" he smiles when her expression comes with an answer to his own question, "Thought not, he could of killed a dozen Asari Matriarchs with such power."

"Then how come he couldn't kill the three mercenaries that threatened him then?" Rhea replies.

"That's a question only you can answer, you were there." he stands up and puts his hand forwards, ready to shake her, "Anyway, it was nice meeting you."

She stands up and grabs his hand lightly as they shake for a few seconds; "Likewise." is all she says as she exit's the room leaving Spectre alone.

The well-dressed Spectre takes another sip of his drink before someone else enters the room. As he sits down, he reveals himself to be Commissioner Vetos, the orange skinned turian who wore his high-ranking C-sec uniform. However the spectre is unfazed by his presence. "Don't you have more important things to do instead of harassing me?" asks Brutagus.

"Well? What did you find out?" Vetos asks wanting to know what exactly is going on.

The other turian isn't being cooperative as he acts casual, "Why should I tell you Vetos? this is my investigation not C-sec's?"

"Well we have all the evidence, so you're going to have to be nice to me?" Vetos says with cunning smile, "Besides, I got a call to show you the body."

"Then you better show it me, fuck-hole." Brutagus puts his hand out for Vetos to lead the way.

While Brutagus goes and so does his investigation Rhea is on her way out of the academy where she puts her hood up and is about to leave waiting for the elevator to reach her. While she does this she leans on the wall and watches the various C-sec officers walk by but there is one person that stands out from the rest.

Another asari who wears leather heeled boots and pants of the same colour and material. She also wears a sleeveless brown vest, zipped up to just under her cleavage which is getting notice from various male members of the academy. She walks up to the same elevator and looks at Rhea like she knows who she is. She takes a tiny bottle from her cleavage and takes a sip.

"You're Rhea, aren't you?" she asks as she scans her body.

"Yeah, do I know you?" Rhea asks in an impolite manner.

"No, but I knew Krieg. Nice guy." she states taking another sip.

Rhea looks around to see if anyone heard her however no has as she gets in close, "You knew Krieg, how?"

"I was here the same reason you were, I was interrogated by that Spectre." the asari tastes her beverage after another sip, "Names Delphine."

Rhea looks at the girl, younger than her and was a member of the research team, "You worked with Krieg didn't you, in that facility."

She nods, "Yeah, I worked with Yanny and Officer Pallin. I work with those fuckers in the research facility and for what, nothing that's what." she looks at Rhea again, "So did Brutagus question you again about Krieg?"

Rhea simply nods to her, "If you had already been interviewed, then why are you still here?"

She leans next to her being closer to the elevator, "I was hoping to catch you, I was wandering if you had time to talk? What I have to say to you may be of interest?"

Rhea isn't sure whether to trust her and looks around while thinking. She isn't sure at first but despite the asari's negative first impression decides to go with instinct, "Sure, where are we going?"

"That place in the wards? You know? That place near the markets, right?" she wonder, referring to the Chora's Den.

Rhea raises her eyebrows before answering, "Okay, let's go." Rhea lets her fellow asari enter the elevator and she follows as the door closes and they head up to the wards. She stands next to her and looks at her in interest. Delphine looks half-drunk from her small beverage as she takes another sip. Rhea doesn't say anything in response to this as she doesn't want to offend her.

In another elevator however stand three turians and an asari as they head down downwards to the morgue of the academy. Brutagus leans next to the elevator control while on the other side; both Pallin and Santi keep their distance. With all that has happened with Juna they still don't trust Spectre involvement no matter how different he may be. Commissioner Vetos stands in-between them and remains stood tall as he doesn't want to seem like Brutagus was in control, which he was as he had C-Sec at his disposal.

They wait a few more seconds and the elevator stops. The doors slide open to reveal a long corridor where the walls are full of safes that are actually units to store dead bodies. The four of them however head further down this all towards a small room where they enter. Santi is first, then Brutagus and Pallin and finally Vetos as they see a body lay out on the slab.

Blue lights coming from the ceiling reveal the naked body in all its glory though from appearance it looks blue but is actually grey. The body of Krieg lay in peace as the four of them crowd around the well preserved body, though various wounds from the trio's bullets have done its share of mutilation and even the left eye that Tido shot was still exposed. Santi rubs her arms as she feels the colder temperature reaches the bear arms of her uniform but also the sight of Krieg's corpse makes her feel very uneasy. Brutagus gets close and puts his hands on the slab, examining the body as he looks at the various wounds.

Vetos remains in the shadows though he is the first one to speak, "What are you looking for Brutagus? I was told to bring the body down to the body and now I want an explanation."

Brutages looks up to the younger turian in annoyance, "Listen, this is the first time I have seen this body. Just give me some time."

"You've got our report, what more do you need?" Santi asks him as he turns his attention to her.

"Well, nothing beats seeing it for yourself. You should know, you saw the Executor die."

Pallin looks at him insulted, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Brutagus is immediately defensive, "Well you were there when he died. Someone like that is unforgettable. Like what I see here." he continues to look at Krieg, "Look at it. It could be the last of his kind and its lying dead in front of us. Merely seeing it is more an honour than anything."

"So you're saying watching the Executor die was an honour?" Pallin asks in a confused manner.

Brutagus smiles, "Your saw him at last breath, you were there when he was ready to leave. By the sound of your voice the Executor was important to you and therefore you 'feel' honoured rather than 'it' being an honour, understand?"

Pallin thinks back and realizes Brutagus' words though he doesn't like the way it has been put, "Sure." he simply says before turning around and heading out, "I'm going back upstairs. Are you coming Santi?"

"Officer Santi, will you help our guest in any way possible?" Vetos interrupts before she can answer.

Santi looks at Vetos and then Brutagus before speaking, "Sure." she says as the two C-Sec turians leave.

Rhea sits on a stool at the bar with Delphine as they each have a glass of brandy. The two of them sit in a nearly empty bar since Quard the owner has been arrested and is currently convicted of the counterfeiting crimes he was guilty for. Delphine hold her glass and leads her new friend towards a few chairs with a coffee table as they both place their beverages on it.

Rhea watches as Delphine takes out a small silver sachet and tares it open as she puts the light green powder in her mouth. Rhea as a medic knows what she is taking and doesn't like it one bit as what the young asari has in her system is Lucky Lime, a narcotic drug that isn't as popular or mainstream as the other products that are out there but is dangerous none the less as Delphine finishes the packet like candy.

"You shouldn't be taking that stuff." Rhea states.

Delphine chuckles, "Whatever, I'm young. So, I'm sorry about Krieg?"

Rhea looks at her confused, "Why are you saying that to me, I wasn't his family?"

She looks at her, "But you were his friend. I remember from when I worked in the research team. He could stop talking about you?"

"He couldn't?" Rhea asks with a feeling of warmth.

"No, well for the first half of the time he was there." she states before having a sip of her drink.

Rhea sees the expression on Delphine's face that of someone hiding something, "Oh, what happened?"

Delphine puts her glass on the table, "Your visit changed him. He began to focus on different things."

"Was he treated okay?" she asks concerned for her deceased friend.

"I think he was treated very well. He was kind, very kind in fact. To Yanlo and to me." she reassures not revealing the truth of what happened between Krieg and her.

Rhea recounts her thoughts as she has heard of that name before, "Yanlo? Oh, the other person he mentioned in my visit."

"Yeah, Yanlo and I were his only real friends within the facility. He would talk to us and not Thenas. She was a bitch." Delphine finishes that sentence with distain as her hated for Thenas was great.

Rhea doesn't notice as she instead jokes about when he told her when she visited him, "I know, he said that he didn't get along with her. So why else are we here?"

Delphine understands the question though is at first reluctant to answer however under the circumstances she had to be honest, "Well, despite knowing Krieg for that short time I wanted to know more about him, to know what he was really like?"

Rhea looks at the other asari again in confusion, "That's odd. Normally people just want to wonder and not know what he was?"

"Well, I believe there was something about Krieg that made him-"

"Unique?" Rhea spits out finishing the sentence for her.

"Yeah, Rhea I like to know the Krieg you knew?" Delphine asks her though her motive is unknown as this was the same Krieg who sexually assaulted her.

Rhea prepares herself as she finds it hard to conjure words up to describe Krieg, "Well, where would I start? Krieg was strange, when I first met him. He was naked and looked savage for an intelligent being. But the funny thing was is that he was always kind to me. I never heard him say a bad word to me." Rhea pauses and thinks back to the moment where she was about to kiss him on Vlax's ship but remembers that would be the last time they were intimate.

Delphine sees that her glass is empty, "You want another drink?" she asks and in response she nods.

While the two asari talk about Krieg his body still lay on the slab in a dark room with a single blue light. However instead of it being at peace it is being examined by a Spectre who instead of just looking at the copse is actually taking samples as the turian has a small instrument that he is using to scrape some skin of the stomach of Krieg.

Santi watches from a few meters as she continues to sip her drink that she was given in order to last the prolonged period that she was stuck down here. She looks at the Spectre in amazement as he is patient and careful; unlike the previous one she knew who is now dead and probably not far from where their position is. The room they were in did have a dark atmosphere as being near a dead body was an intimidating site for Santi unlike Brutagus, who was acting more like an undertaker.

Santi smiles as Brutagus lifting his head up, "You not like most Spectres."

"What do you mean?" he asks while standing straight and putting another piece of skin in a tube.

"Well, Spectres are known for blowing shit up across the galaxy yet here you are taking samples from a dead corpse." Santi states knowing the truth about the Spectre's reputation being C-Sec rather than a civilian.

"You make sound like my jobs boring?" he says with a chuckle referring to his current status, "Listen, despite what you see I'm actually more than qualified."

Santi smiles and takes a small sip of her drink, "I bet you are. So are you one who has to do all the paperwork or have you been bad?"

Brutagus walks around the table a starts to put his findings into a briefcase, "Neither, actually it's due to my reliability."

"Reliability?" Santi looks in confusion as she never believed Spectre's were actually seen as good workers by the council, just tools.

"The Council want me to clean the mess Juna made as well as fill in the gaps that are missing from the K-Thousand investigation."

"So you're the Council's Pet?" she protests believing that her partner Pallin was more capable.

"I'm the Council's caretaker; they caused this mess by keeping K-Thousand alive when they found him." He says in surprising tone believing what the Council did was wrong, "They also should have put us in charge rather than you."

"Hey, Pallin did his best!" she protests for her friend and partner.

"But his best wasn't good enough. Many officers died when it broke out and the red-tape after. Families had to be paid reparations, those who survived had to sign non-disclosure agreements, the shit piled up and created more shit." Brutagus explains as he picks up the case and holds it by his side.

Santi crosses her arms and leans on the slab where Krieg's body lay, "So what would you have done?"

The Spectre looks away before answering showing deep thought, "If the Council wanted K-Thousand alive while they did their tests, they should have hired mercenaries. If they die no one would care or they should have posted us instead."

"You Spectre's are so full of yourselves." Santi is disgusted with what he has said as he willing to sacrifice lives despite how useless they were.

Brutagus just shrugs, "Maybe, but we're not all bad. I just do what I need to do to get the job done, like you."

Santi realises that this is her occupation as well which is to keep people safe, "I'm sorry."

"Believe me, its okay." Brutagus says leaning next to her, "So enough about my work, what about yourself?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, why are you at C-sec?" he asks with interest.

Santi smiles weakly before answering until speaking, "It's a job I guess. I was a commando for years but then I-"

The brief pause allows the turian to finish her sentence, "You wanted to settle down?"

She nods, "Yeah, and have a family of my own."

"Have you any children?" he questions further as he sees the pause again not wanting answer though he has come to a conclusion, "Why not?"

"I haven't found the right partner yet. I was with someone for a time, but we parted ways not long ago."

Brutagus looks and sees that she is uncomfortable about talking about it, "Forget I mentioned it, it obviously upsets you."

"No, I just haven't talked about it that's all. I became C-Sec in hope of not just work but finding a good partner to have a child with but no luck unfortunately." She's thinking about the hectic schedule of her job.

"Patience is a given thing to your race, you live for a millennia." Brutagus wisely puts.

"I guess. Do you have kids?" she carries on the conversation though turns it back on him.

He smiles and looks down in a bit of shame, "No, to the dismay of my mother in fact. Before she died she said her greatest regret was to have never seen a grandchild."

"Harsh." Santi says knowing how much grandparents love their children having children.

He continues, "I was too busy for a kid, that's a problem for Spectres. We don't have time for a social life."

"You're lonely?" Santi looks into his eyes and her fingers brush his cheek.

"Very lonely, but I can live with that." he casually replies before noticing what was happening and begins to act normal, "I better get back to work, you can go back up now."

Santi silently agrees as she walks towards the door, "Okay. See you later, maybe?" she gives him a weak smiles before the doors slide open and she walks out of the dark room leaving Brutagus alone with the corpse.

Rhea is outside the bar in the wards and is waiting for her newest friend to exit as she leans on the balcony and watches the air-cars riding past her. She is wearing her scarf and has the hood up,which she uses as a safe haven so she can think about things that were on her mind. On her mind was mainly Krieg's death though there were many spaces where her lover Thalian filled as well.

While she carries on thinking to herself Delphine walks out and taps her on the shoulder and the two link arms in a causal manner while they walk towards the nearby alleyway. As the two of them walk down the steps of the alleyway Delphine begins to hold on tighter as she pushes Rhea against the wall to her surprise. Delphine looks at her with what looks like is rage but is a matter of fact lust as she feels something grinding in between her legs, which happens to be Delphine's thigh.

Rhea looks at her and knows that she doesn't want to though for some reason she can't help but fall sedated and freezes as the other asari begins to nip into her neck as the younger asari removes a portion of her scarf so she can embed her teeth into her flesh. Rhea begins to breathe heavily as but stops as she uses her arms to hold Delphine back realising that she doesn't want what she does.

"I-I can't Delphine. I have a boyfriend" she says with guilt and looks away from her.

Delphine knows that she doesn't want to go through with what they doing, "It okay, I won't tell." She reassures her as she leans back into her and light plants a kiss on her cheek.

This continues until Rhea acts upon this using her hand to bring Delphine's chin up and plants a light kiss upon her lips. As their kissing gets more and more intense the atmosphere around them is that of insecurity as there is a shiver down Rhea's spine because despite her eyes closed and the feeling of Delphine's lips against hers. She can't help but feels that she is being watched as she opens her eyes and sees a flicker of a blue light heading around the corner though it was too quick for her to get a real image of what it was.

This does cause Rhea to stop and push Delphine off walking a few steps forward, "What was that?" she says before scanning the alleyway. She sees nothing but a confused asari standing there, "I must be going crazy?"

Delphine smiles and approaches behind her putting her arms around her waist, "Why don't we go back to your place?" she says before she cups the other asari's right breast.

This causes Rhea to grab the hand and stop her light massage, "I can't. My mother's there."

The other asari smiles, "Okay, we'll go to mine." and takes her hand and leads her out of the alleyway.

Like the alleyway the C-sec academy was empty as normally the night shifts were the busier shifts for the peacekeepers. However within a makeshift office that had been made a few weeks before Vetos sits at his console and his desk, typing out a report on an unknown subject.

While he continues a notice begins to come into fruition on his console and stops to open it revealing a message in an encrypted code. As he reads it his eyes widen in surprise but when the sound of the sliding doors startles him he closes the whole console like he was deliberately hiding something. The person entering was Brutagus who be no had finished his autopsy and was carrying the samples he needed for the Council. Vetos crosses his arms and puts them on the table as he watches the other turian sitting down and smiling.

"You'll be glad to know that my autopsy is done and you can store the body now."

A sigh of relief come from Vetos, "Thanks Spectre, I think in the best interests of both of us that you leave quietly."

Brutagus nods, "Agreed, Juna sure caused a shit storm for you and I can't see that our relationship improving anytime soon."

"Personally I don't have any quarrel with the Spectre's but a lot of my officer's do, especially Pallin." The turian says with a little distain for his employee.

The Spectre nods in agreement knowing the view of his work from his law-abiding counterparts, "I can understand. Working with Juna was always hard, even for us. However we turians are sometimes too absolute for our own good."

Vetos laughs at the irony in this as Brutagus is far from the narrow views that the turians are famous for, "That I agree with you Brutagus. Pallin is absolute, his view won't change. I'll have to keep him on here though, apparently he's a lot more valuable to us than I thought."

"You sound, disappointed with that?" the other turian notices seeing annoyance in his face.

"In real truth he should have gone when K-Thousand escaped but the Executor saw something in him." Vetos confesses.

The Spectre stands up, "He has sense of justice, and he takes orders and follows them."

Vetos stands as well and shakes his hand, "I guess so. Anyway, I may see you in future."

"Maybe." Brutagus replies when he lets go of his hand and walks out of the room.

Vetos once again signs in relief as he brings up his console and has another look at the message and in response types something into the console. Once responded he has a look of worry on his face which he shares only to himself.

This worry isn't on Brutagus' mind as he is walking down the hallway of the C-sec academy where he passes the office of Pallin and Santi. While the turian remains at his desk and keep filing reports Santi gets a quick glimpse of the Spectre and decides to get up and quickly rushes out from her desk and down the hallway to catch up with the Spectre, who is about to enter an elevator. However the sound of her footsteps caused him to stop before hand as he turns around to see the asari.

"Officer, did you need something?" he asks in a polite manner.

Santi smiles, "No, I just wanted to say see you later. That's all."

There is a brief pause before he speaks again, "Well, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, sure. See you later." she turns around in a little disappointment and begins to walk back to her office.

Brutagus is frozen but a thought in his mind acts as a trigger, "Hey, officer!"

Santi breaths in relief as she turns around to see the turian walking up to her, "Yes...err...Commander?"

"Please, call me Oristar. I was wandering if I could get your...err..." Brutagus is struggling to find the words.

Santi blushes while taking a see-through plastic card from her back pocket and puts it in his hand, smiling, "Call me, I'm free tomorrow." is all she says turning around and walking back towards her office.

Rhea sits on the bed of Delphine's small apartment looking around the place of residence for the young asari. The place was very plain and had nearly no decorations at all. There were only the necessities needed to live as there were kitchen units and a table to eat off. There was bathroom on the far end of the room but the doors were shut as Delphine was within.

Rhea has already taken of her headscarf but hasn't proceeded to have taken anything else as she is unsure of what is about to happen here. It is then that all is revealed when the doors to the bathroom slide open and Delphine pokes her head around the corner using her eyes to lure the asari inside of the room. She is successful and Rhea enters to see Delphine standing in the shower unit with the water on as the small droplets fall onto her smooth body. She faces the wall as this time and Rhea only has a view of her behind from the back of her ankles to her fringe. The younger asari turns her head only enough to see Rhea scanning her and notices that she is fixed upon her behind which she finds amusing.

"Take off your clothes, Rhea. Come shower with me." she says as she turns around to give a frontal view of her anatomy.

Rhea looks at the seductive member of her species as she starts taking off her boots before undoing her belt and dropping it on the floor next to them. She then removes her tank-top which is revealed to be supporting her breasts as well. She finishes with her pants which are the same as it doubles as underwear and is now as naked as Delphine.

Approaching the asari, Delphine brings her closer with her and uses her left hand lightly cup Rhea's right breast, slightly bigger and then hers though the focus is more on using her fingers used to squeeze it. Rhea is turned on by her massage and leans in for kiss which in turn becomes more passionate, Delphine wrapping her leg around hers.

This sexual experience with another with a member of her race wasn't disappointing as she wants more and more to get involved by trailing her tongue down Delphines neck, to her breasts and stopping at her hardened nipple as she circles it before using her teeth to nibble it. Delphine just watches and smiles as the older asari continues to caress her and the other with her hand before resting her head back against the wall and shutting her eyes in relaxation.

"Keep going, Rhea." she states as she moves down lower and begins to kneel down in front of her. As Rhea looks up she sees Delphine smiling and her eyes close before opening them revealing them diluted black and not long after. Rhea has done the same and begins to pleasure once again with her tongue, teasing her at first with her nose, stroking and breathing. Delphine gives her a groan yearning for her to get on with it though Rhea wants to savour the moment before wriggling her tongue out and inserting it within.

At first she is slow with the process by simply inserting and retracting her tongue though she gets more of taste she leans in more and smothers herself into Delphines groan. The asari can feel her legs widen a little more and feeling of Rhea's tongue cleaning her out makes her feel dirty as she strokes Rhea's head-fringe with her right hand. Biting her bottom lip she feels the climax but doesn't warn her guest as she releasing and the result end around Rhea's face. Rhea eyes go back to normal and she breaths intensely and sit back against the wall, the orgasm still on some of her lip and her left cheek.

Delphine on the other hand is still standing and is also breathing heavily from the orgasm she has just had.

Recovering she sees Rhea sitting on the floor of the shower. The warm water lands on her chest as she using it to wipe her mouth. Delphine kneels down and climbs on top of her legs leaning in for another kiss though this time it's a light series of pick before she uses her finger to wipe a bit of her wet from Rhea's cheek. She proceeds to insert the finger into Rhea's mouth, though the other asari doesn't protest but instead uses her teeth to keep the finger inside as circles it with tongue and lightly sucks it dry. "You really know how to get me wet Rhea, now it's my turn to return the favour."

"Oh yeah, what do you want to do?" she asks Delphine watching her move away staying kneeled.

"Put your front against the wall." she replies in a commanding voice while she strokes herself. Rhea is at first confused with this but decides to go along with it. Delphine smiles as she crawls towards her and climbs her body, so that her pussy is rubbing hard against her buttocks. She begins to kiss her neck but it suddenly becomes rougher, biting into her shoulder though Rhea believes this to be a part of some act.

"What are you doing?" she shouts not feeling comfortable with the direction this has gone.

The young asari leans towards Rhea's ear, "Relax Rhea, I'm just warming you up." She continues to kiss her neck though she bites hard at first before moaning.

"For what?" Rhea is nervous as Delphine was being very illusive with her.

"Just relax Rhea, and have a smooth ride." Delphine pulls Rhea's head back and kisses her, deeply like she was using her tongue to dig a tunnel but as soon as she removes her mouth things change from Rhea's prospective.

"What's happening? I feel-" she says seeing her view moving like she had too much to drink. Delphine had done something during that kiss that caused her to hallucinate though her motive for doing so was unclear.

Delphine just ignores her as she stands up and heads out of the bathroom leaving her there for a few minutes before entering back inside. She is still naked but with a new addition. Rhea looks in confusion as she sees that where Delphine's crouch should be is a long smooth silver shaft and it is attached to her with straps. She at first holds the shafts with her hand and stokes it gently like she did for Krieg before she was assaulted only this time she was in control. She approaches Rhea and helps her up though her position is still facing the wall and her legs spread but her hands were the only thing contributing to her balance. "Now, are going to be a good girl?" she asks her with a smirk on her face. Rhea nods in response, "Good."

While this happening Vetos is standing in the elevator of C-sec academy where he is waiting it to head to a certain floor. His expression is that of caution like someone was watching him while in the confined space however this is of no consequence as when the doors open he looks to see the morgue where the rows of the dead continue to stay buried like files in a cabinet.

The light red turian walks down towards the room towards the end of the hallway, Krieg's room where Brutagus was conducting his investigation. When he has pressed the door to open the room he enters though he is nervous to do so as he looks at the body of Krieg lying motionless on the slab. He approaches the body and leans in towards his face. It is at the moment when something across the small room reveals itself partially. A trio of blue eyes begin to glow in the formation of one at the bottom and two above, similar to a triangle. This causes Vetos to stand back in mixture of both fear and respect as he breathes heavily.

"We are most disappointed with the series of events which have occurred Vetos." a cold toneless voice states towards the turian, "We trust that you have a justified report to the recent events that have occurred here?"

Vetos sighs before speaking to the voice, "Things went array. K-Thousand died fighting that trio of mercenaries. I thought you were controlling that thing?" he says revealing the secret of Krieg's actions.

"Yes, K-Thousand's use had run its course and we released control during the fight. This wouldn't have happened if you did you job."

The turian's face turns defensive, "Hey, I tried to keep C-sec and the Spectres off your back. that's why I recommended Juna take the case."

"And it proved useful until the Ambassador's death, unforeseen that was."

"Unforeseen, yes." Vetos realises that the Ambassador wasn't a target, "If you were in control then how come you killed the Ambassador and not Matriarch Damina?"

"The presence of Rhea T'Anya caused control malfunctions in K-Thousand. It was resisting, and the Ambassador's death was the result. However this played to our advantage as we have no intelligence on who gave them the information on K-Thousand and its link to the Protheans." the cold voice pauses before continuing its rant, "Our intelligence however has helped us identify two of the mercenaries that killed our experiment." its top two eyes shin on the black wall on Vetos' left and reveal to pictures of Tido and Chek while they were fighting Krieg, only these are from a first-person view, "If you managed to keep both Citadel Security and the Spectres off K-Thousand, then explain how these two managed to locate us."

Vetos hesitates before answering, "I can't explain it. Chance, maybe?"

After he says this a tentacle appears from the shadows and coils around the turian's throat and squeeze tightly while the end of the tentacle is a sharp pincer clamping which is taunting him as he chokes in fear, "Chance is a concept we deny. Giving chance to anything affects our strength."

"Then…why…didn't-"

"We killed them? It was your responsibility to clear up our trail on the Citadel, this was your task and you knew K-Thousand limitations."

"I know...but I can...only...keep track of leads in the...official investigation." the turian states hoping for air to fill his lungs.

The tentacle loosens a little enough for him to breath, "There is some truth in your words, filthy organic. You couldn't have kept track of the criminals if you were dealing with the law." It tightens again, "But that doesn't hide you failure."

"Wait, wait...I...I did...kill Juna." he confesses to the crime many believe Tido may have committed.

The voice remains silent, "Indeed you did. If you hadn't, we wouldn't have successful killed the Executor, your thought process was impressive. Irony as you organics call it, that Juna asked a client to recover a Turian Hierarchy Mail-Messenger with the intension of discovering the fate of Sintarrio." it completely releases the grip and retracts the tentacle.

Vetos gets his breath before answering, "I know, I destroyed it."

"Indeed. Despite the loss of K-Thousand, we severed that trail. You are to be congratulated Vetos, we cannot let anyone know of Sintarrio and his existence. That is our primary goal at this current time."

"I understand. His secrecy is more important." Vetos rubs his neck before he continues, "Juna's body's in the next room if you want it."

"Perhaps. However we foresee that this area of C-sec academy will have an accident sometime in the near future." the voice implies to Vetos who nods in response.

"I'll arrange it." Vetos replies, "What's our next move?"

"We have recently come into contact with a new recruit. She is young and familiar to you though her mental state is compromised."

"Who are we talking about here?"

"See for yourself." as his two higher eyes close the pictures of Tido and Chek as his bottom eye emits a light onto the wall where a video is taking place. The video is currently live and the location is Delphine's apartment, in particular the bathroom as Vetos looks and makes the picture before the definition kicks in.

His eyes widen in disbelief as he watches Delphine standing and inserting her new toy up the vaginal passage of a bent over Rhea, who is still with her hands against the wall. Delphine is thrusting her false manhood into Rhea and the latter's expression is of one of discomfort fear and pain but only partial awareness but Vetos knows that she is a victim and not a lover.

"Delphine, you recruited her?" Vetos says looking at the moving image of the two asari in disgust.

"The incident that Doctor Thenas caused was unforeseen and Delphine is still suffering from the effects." next to the video one of the remaining eyes flashes a picture of Yanlo next to it, "We approached her a few days ago, hoping to find the location the third member of strike team that killed K-Thousand, Doctor Yanlo."

"What and she just gave it to you?" Vetos asks.

"No, the only time she encountered Yanlo was a few days before the trio attacked. But we made a bargain." he shuts off both the video and the images, "She is committed to our cause. She knows everything and in a few months she wall become an Acolyte like you. However, in order to gain this one's loyalty we had to show our commitment to her. We organized that she met Rhea T'Anya tonight after her interview with the Spectre with intention of acting upon her revenge."

"Revenge? It was K-Thousand that did that to her not T'Anya." Vetos states still disgusted with what was going on.

"When we informed her of K-Thousand's death, she came up with the alternative and we complied. Now we must leave. You have you orders Vetos, the Scythe demands you follow them." the cold voice finishes not revealing its identity.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea stands alone in the shower of her safehouse. It is a small cubical similar to the one that she and Delphine once shared that night she tries to forget. Since then she has become stronger as she wipes her body of the last few days more than anything as she knows that there are a lot more battles to come for her. After a few minutes she stops and leans against the wall while the water still drips onto her soft skin while she thinks to herself about what went on back then and the reasons why people did the things they did and why the universe she lives in and why it is still as rotten as it was then. Switching off the shower and getting out. She wraps a towel around her torso and walks to the sink and pours the running water onto her face trying to wake herself up.


	12. Revelations and Returns: Part I

**Chapter XII: Revelations and Returns**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea has just walked out of the bathroom of her place of residence with a towel across her torso covering the area from her breasts to her upper-legs. As she doesn't have hair a towel is not wrapped around her head though when she gets back into her room but she can't help but use the towel to dry her fringe before putting it down. She sits on the bed and reaches for a pair of black pants, silky and smooth as she feels them with her fingertips before sliding her legs into them. She follows this with a t-shirt of the same colour and material and attaches the two together with a belt made of leather.

Rhea then slips some shoes on and heads out to the main room where she sees that Joker has already beaten her to breakfast; leaning against the kitchen unit while waiting for the toaster to make a noise so he can get his rations. Rhea smiles at him and walks to the opposite side of the kitchen and pours herself a cup of instant coffee in a see-through mug. Not putting any sugars or milk in her coffee. She sits down and looks at Joker while she sips it but the humans look is that of someone who needs it more than her as there is bags under his eyes.

He hears a noise from the toaster as two near-brunt pieces of bread half-appear and he takes them out putting them on a plate and shaking his hands as he didn't predict the heat emitted from the toaster but doesn't seem too bothered. He brings them to the table where he has already set up the butter and the knife to spread on his well-done pieces of toast.

"Burnt enough for you?" Rhea asks rhetorically.

Joker chuckles as he spreads some butter on his first slice, "You know it's funny, how every time I do this I always seem to burn it." and then takes a bite. He looks at Rhea who is now just staring at her coffee, "You okay?"

Rhea looks up and smiles, "Yeah, feeling better than I did."

Joker nods, "Good, so am I aloud to ask you more?"

Rhea smiles, "Fire away."

"Well I'm curious still in that you haven't mentioned the Reapers that much. I mean they were the reason why you approached me weren't it?" Joker observes remembering the night they met a few days ago.

"That's true, I haven't mentioned them that much have I?" she takes a sip of her coffee before continuing, "Tell me, how's your knowledge on cults?"

Joker raises his eyebrows, "Well I'm no expert but I've seen or heard of a fair share. Biotics mainly like that Major Kyle."

Rhea leans in, "Well what if I told you that there was a cult that has existed for millennia dedicated to Reaper Domination."

"Impossible, no one knew the Reapers existed until Saren found Sovereign." Joker claims.

Rhea laughs, "The Reapers act through others, the Collectors were a prime example and so was Saren. Just because you discovered them, doesn't mean that they haven't been discovered before."

Joker leans back, "So this cult what was it called?"

The asari continues, "It has many names. However, the English version has become more popular recently, the Scythe."

Joker laughs to himself, "You got to be kidding me?"

Rhea raises her eyebrows knowing that he wouldn't believe her, "Take it that way, but the name fits in terms of you humans, a Reaper and his weapon of choice. This was a group that served the Reapers in many ways, soldiers, mercenaries; even politicians were involved with this group."

"You make it sound like a conspiracy." Joker remarks, and knowing the enigmatic nature that cults can have.

"Isn't it? Didn't you have your fare share back in your people's history?"

"You got a point I suppose. So when did you find out about them?" Joker asks.

Rhea thinks back to around the time in question, "Well, something happened that I didn't expect."….

**06/09/2157- Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It has been a few months since her encounter with Delphine though it has been a long three months for Rhea as she has had to endure her boyfriend Thalian leaving for what is now become apparent that he went to war with a newly discovered race. Her mother has fallen ill with an unknown virus and is coughing constantly and finally the death of her friend Krieg which she witnessed before her eyes.

The young asari sits at a café in the Zakera ward not far where she would meet Joker a few decades later and has a drink on the table though she holds it in her hand ready to take another sip. Her expression is that of deep-thought as she constantly thinks to herself about what happened that night and how she felt humiliated and scarred but hasn't revealed it to anyone, not even her mother who could have tracked Delphine down.

Her train of thought is side-tracked by someone walking into the café and looking around trying to find her. It is General Rhodius who was the turian who brought Rhea to the Citadel a year ago though like Thalian he has been at war and has only recently came back. He doesn't wear anything that resembles Hierarchy attire but instead has civilian clothing, a blue suit with black patterns on it. Though it as has been a year since they last met he hasn't changed as he still has his white face-markings and a scar down his left eye. Rhea stands up and Rhodius sees her, immediately approaching the asari and giving her a more casual hug than they were both used to and he sits down opposite her.

"It's good to see you again, Rhea." Rhodius says as he signals the waitress to bring him a drink, "Thank you for seeing me some place away from everyone." he says referring to the busy and political driven sector known as the presidium.

"It's okay. It's good to see you too, sir." she takes a sip of her drink, "I take it you haven't seen my mother yet?"

He shakes his head, "No, I wanted to talk to you first. I got the news she was ill but I couldn't get back here. What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know, I really don't know. She went to the hospital and they say its stress related but I'm not sure, she coughs constantly, is sick every other night." Rhea says thinking about it is hard as she look back up towards the turian.

"So they don't know what's wrong with her? But it is apparent that she is sick?" Rhodius looks annoyed as he doesn't know what to think. He has had a stressful few months and this hasn't helped.

"Did you hear about what happened with K-Thousand?" she asks reluctantly wondering if Rhodius was ever kept informed.

The general raises his head and nods slightly, "Yeah, I heard that he was killed outside your place. Your mother told me. I'm sorry. I know you cared for…him."

"Thank you, sir." she says but notices that it isn't all she wanted to say. "Are you okay sir? You look like-"

"Listen Rhea, I need to tell you something and it isn't easy. I was going to wait until I saw your mother but I feel I can't hold it back." he says with a heavy conscience.

Rhea has a feeling that news isn't going to be pleasant though she has feeling that she must know at the same time, "What is it?"

"Our ship was one of a few dreadnaughts that was in that skirmish with this new race that everyone was talking about, you know this so I don't have to fill you in with the details but the place we attacked was called Shanxi and the race call themselves humanity." Rhodius pauses when he hears the sound of the name.

"Where's this going sir?" Rhea asks impatiently.

Rhodius can't hold it in, "We suffered many casualties there Rhea, Thalian was one of them."

The universe freezes around Rhea for a second as she takes the news in though how feared she knew the possibility. "Oh." she lets out not knowing what to say and stares at the drink she has in front of her.

"I'm sorry Rhea, I really am. I don't know what else to say." Rhodius can't help but feel guilt for telling her and can't bear to look because of it.

Rhea picks up her drink and takes a quick sip before speaking, "There's nothing to say really. I'm shocked though I knew."

Rhodius reaches for Rhea's hand, "Are you okay?"

A tear rolls down her left cheek, "Yeah, I'll be fine. How did he die?"

The turian pauses, "We didn't find his body I'm afraid but we believe that he was killed on the frontline."

"I see." Rhea smiles at the general, "Thank you for telling me sir."

Rhodius smiles in appreciation as well, "I felt that you deserved to hear it from me rather than an official knocking on your door a week from now."

"How is everyone else taking it?" she asks wanting to know if anyone else is mourning.

"His brother, Saren isn't taking it very well. His fellow officers are upset too." Rhodius takes a sip of his drink and continues, "You know, this incident that has happened has me questioning my own worth. I thought that I would serve the military all my life and continue for a future that never existed. Now I know that a future waits for me here." he says referring to his relationship with Rhea's mother which is known to only a few, Rhea herself only finding out in the last few months.

This does raise curiosity in the daughter as she begins to question, "How did you meet my mother, sir?"

Rhodius smiles as he remembers, "It must have been decades ago when I met you mother. It was by chance that we would met as I was here on the Citadel on vacation." he takes another sip of his drink before continuing, "A group of batarians tried to mug me and I ended up putting two of them in the intensive care, I was arrested for assault because of it. I had no friends or family here so I was alone until you mother came to defend me in court. Because of her I was acquitted of assault and was released from custody."

"My mother defended you?"

"Yes, that was our first meeting and over the years we kept in touch. She used to talk about you, saying how proud she was that you were going to become a doctor. It wasn't until about a few years ago that the attraction established itself, personally I think it was because I was older." he smiles to himself at this statement.

"Well, I know that she is happy nowadays." Rhea adds as a comfort to the turian who still worrying for Vessana's health.

"I was going to tell her that I am retiring from active duty. Leaving my ship was my last order." Rhodius confesses much to Rhea's surprise.

"You're retiring? What will you do for work?" Rhea is looks at the turian with interest as she wants to know about Rhodius' welfare.

He smiles in response, "I've made enough money over the years not to worry about that sort of thing. I want to make things with Vessana work, so badly. I would appreciate it if I had at least you blessing."

Rhea now looks with even more confusion, "Why would you want my blessing? What my mother does is her business."

"But you're the most important thing in her world, I would want you to be happy for us both." he states with an honest heart.

Rhea smiles at Rhodius' willingness to put what's in her mother's interests first before himself, "Sure, okay you have my blessing. I think that at least my mother should be happy if I can't be." she thinks about the possible future that she and Thalian could have had together.

"Rhea, Thalian was always putting the universe on his shoulders. One of his closest friends, Sintarrio, died a few years ago and he never really got over that. You helped calm Thalian, and gave him hope. He loved you more than anyone."

Rhea's heart beats as this truth causes he eyes to water, "I loved him too."

Rhodius sees that she is about to cry and stands up, "Come on, we'll go and see your mother and tell her the news."

He gives Rhea his hand and she takes as the two link arms and head outside of the café. However while the turian leads the young asari out of the establishment another turian sits at a nearby table on the opposite side of where the two were sitting. It was Brutagus, the red turian with black face markings on the left side of his face was sitting and watching the two of them the whole time but wasn't noticed due to his current look, which wasn't the suit he wore when Rhea first met him.

He now wears red and black phantom armour though the glowing lights around his collar were blue; like his one-eyed visor covering his right eye. His 'disguise' is what kept him from being noticed though it had been a few months since he and Rhea met that one time during the start of his investigation. The turian has a clipboard on his table and is reading the contents while sipping his drink though it was obvious that his focus was on them and not his reading.

At the far end of Zakera ward near the warehouses and not far from where Rhea and Joker's hideout would be a few decades from this time one of the commissioners of C-Sec stands near a warehouse entrance and has a face of concern. It was Vetos who has been revealed to be in league with an obscure being of some kind and wasn't the one agent that they had on the citadel.

The other known agent was an asari who had given her loyalty in exchange for her twisted sense of revenge and had since had it as she walks up to Vetos, proud and beautiful. Delphine leans on a wall opposite her fellow disciple and smiles making Vetos shiver. He knew what she did to Rhea those months ago and didn't agree with it yet couldn't do anything about it because his superiors allowed such activity. Vetos takes a bottle from his suit pocket and opens it, taking a huge gulp of his beverage and breathes heavily afterwards so that he can bare to be in the presence of Delphine.

Delphine looks at turian and smiles. Her personality has since changed as her assault on Rhea proved, "What's the matter, Vetos?" she asks with a smile knowing that Vetos has a distain for her.

"Just shut up, they'll be here in a minute." he answers.

The asari smiles at him even on the verge of laughing, "You know, I've been working with you for months and yet you still act like I've got shit on my face."

"Well maybe you have?" Vetos slurs as he hears the sound of a small ship heading towards their location.

The sound that he heard was not in fact not one but three air-cars heading towards them as the two aliens look up to see these three vehicles stopping in air and hovering down to reasonable level before the doors to the warehouse they were facing open. The doors open slowly though the heartbeat of Vetos was pounding for he knew who it was inside one of the cars as they drive into the building.

Delphine looks at Vetos who is nervous though she doesn't share the same emotions and just walks past the turian and heading towards the entrance herself and inside, Vetos following with his eyes half-closed as the drink was getting to him.

As the two enter the warehouse they get a look at the place while the light from outside still gives off the shape of the path they were walking. There was a simple long path and it was surrounded by metal crates though it was too ideal for them to have been place randomly. This was more likely a common hideout for those of whom Vetos served,who were parking in front of them from the furthest light though a few neon tubes began to illuminate the atmosphere. Vetos feels the pink light touch him and the natural light leaving as the doors shut and the two reach the end of the line.

Delphine stands tall and clueless while the turian is the opposite looking down and full of fear while the doors of the vehicles open revealing the guests they are about to welcome. The two outer car doors open and the figures that exit are intimidating to say the least as when they stood or were in an up-right position. They were at least six and half foot tall but their actual humanoid shaped bodies were covered in dark blue cloak from head to toe. The faces were concealed by the darkness and they walked so fairly that it looked like their legs were not moving. There were six of these figures, three from each car and they each formed a half circle in front of the two of them, leaving a space for one more and Vetos is aware of what is approaching.

The middle car's door opens and another cloaked figure steps out along with a more revealing type of being. This was strange even among aliens as the figure was also cloaked but had its head revealed, which showed that the person was not organic. It had three eyes, one in the centre of its face and two below that are circular and glowing dark blue. On the sides of these eyes are small satellite dishes the size of the palm of a human's hand. These dishes were moving individually like eyes of a chameleon but this wasn't its most freakish feature. Below its eye was a jaw made from metal and resemble a humanoid though most of the teeth were sharpened and there was a slit in the middle of the lower. This however was fixed and didn't move though some of the molars and the back ends of the teeth had a different feature, pincers that were made of three moving parts though they folded back in line with the jaw. The body of this figure was more noticeable even under its hooded cloak, the same as its followers as when he move, his knees and arms moved, despite being hidden by the length. While another one of his follows completes the half circle this freak of technology stands in front of the two.

Vetos immediately bows to who is his superior, "Emissary Krinal." he says in an unworthy manner.

The figure walks towards the two revealing its stature of being only five foot, smaller than Delphine and much shorter than Vetos. The Emissary's face enters some of the pink lightly reveals the rust and that this thing was an aging being. "Vetos, you seem afraid?" a cold sharp voice states as reaches out and uses its mechanical first of three fingers to raise the chin of the turian so that he can meet him eye to eye, "Mind you, your recent exploits here on the Citadel have been, disappointing."

Vetos gulps before speaking as he was fearful of his master, "Well, there was problems with the process of-"

"Don't try and justify your failures with feeble excuses, its unattractive to us." it says before turning towards Delphine who is enjoying Vetos being berated by her new employer, "Unlike this gemstone before me, who is attractive." it walks towards her and circles her and gets a look at his new follower. "You must be our newest addition?"

"I am." she states standing tall.

Krinal stands in front of her and looks into her eyes, "Tell me, are you loyal to our cause?"

Delphine smiles, "I am."

It head nods slowly and turns towards the seven figures and approaches them and turns in front of her, "Then prove your loyalty, and eliminate this useless piece of vermin from existence."

Vetos looks at Krinal in shock and horror as the order for his death has been commissioned, "What? Master please I haven't yet proved my worth."

It turns and reaches his left arm towards the turian and exiting the sleeve a silver tentacle appears at an alarming pace. The tentacle is similar to the one that choked him a few months ago only this time penetrates the stomach region of Vetos whose eyes are now wide. The tentacle lifts him into the air and brings him closer toward Krinal. "You were worthless when I found you. You didn't want to do your service so I influenced the board to hire you as Commissioner of one of these wards. Two years you have been here and the K-Thousand Project was your test of reliability."

Delphine looks at Vetos in shock when she hears this, "What are you talking about? What does he have to do with K-Thousand."

The Emissary tilts his head and walks around with Vetos still in his tentacle playing with him. "The K-Thousand Project was funded by us and Vetos was in charge of development and study of the subject. The team formed to research the alien, you, Yanlo, Talis, Damina, Nemus and Thenas were handpicked by this trash."

Delphine learns this revelation and looks up towards Vetos, "You fucking piece of shit."

Krinal continues, "Yes, he is, isn't he?" his tentacle lifts him out into the open, "Kill him."

"No, wait, wait, you haven't told her everything, what about-" Vetos' panicking stops and he goes mute by the fear of dying at the hands of those he serves.

Delphine pulls out her pistol and aims for his head pulling the trigger as the thermal bullet fire straight into his brain escaping the other side, "Fucker!"

The machine is amused though its face wouldn't reveal as such Krinal drops the Vetos and retracts its tentacle, "Excellent Delphine, you have proved loyal to us. However I have a new assignment for you."

Delphine looks at the corpse of Vetos and dismisses it, "Sure, what do you want me to do?"

It walking back and forth towards its followers and wait's a few seconds before speaking, "K-Thousand left many loose ends that are being dealt with as we speak. Agents have been sent to Thessia to kill Matriarch Damina and I have many still searching for Yanlo, but there are still more loose ends."

"You want me to kill someone?" she asks.

The Emissary looks up again in amusement before answering, "No, I let you kill Vetos, a commissioner in the Citadel Security. Killing another one would be irresponsible. Besides, Officer Pallin isn't much of a threat, he is by the book and won't speak of K-Thousand unless ordered to. No, I want you go and visit an old friend, the one you had your way with."

"Rhea, what do you want with her?"

"That isn't your concern though she is linked with Krieg. You have had your revenge and you have enjoyed it but we do request that you bring her to us as soon as possible. 'I' have some questions for her." it finishes.

In response she bows to her master and turns to face the now closed warehouse doors. Breathing deeply she walks towards the darkness as Krinal, an odd-looking but calculative synthetic looks on as a leader of a mysterious group and also seems to the mastermind behind the whole events that have occurred on the Citadel.

Rhea and Rhodius are about to enter Vessana's apartment. The place hasn't changed and is the same it always has been. Rhodius remembers as the last time he was here was a year before the night when Rhea and Thalian kissed for the first time. Rhodius scans the place and notices that there is a blanket on the couch and knows that is where Vessana has been lying there most likely watching the screen in front of it.

On the screen is a report on the recent conflict in Shanxi so she must have been up but was nowhere to been seen. Rhea walks towards the stairs and gives a quick lean forward but knows her mother isn't there as soon as a sound comes from the downstairs bathroom. Rhodius turns to the sound and sees his partner coming forth in front of him as the asari matriarch is wearing a robe though that isn't the focus as she had bags under her eyes and was breathing deeply. She was recently vomiting in the toilet which explains her current state but as soon as she sees the turian, she dismisses it and hugs him without hesitation. Rhea looks at the two and smiles to see them happy something she was finding hard lately.

Vessana follows with a kiss on his mouth, "I've missed you."

The turian smiles, "Well you won't miss me anymore."

Vessana looks in confusion, "Why?"

With this Rhea interrupts, "I going to go out for a while, don't wait up." she says before leaving the apartment and the older lovers to themselves.

She walks out of the home and looks down the hallway towards the elevator. As she is walking she thinks to herself about the truths that have just been told to her. She was taking Thalian's death very well but a drink would help her even more and presses the button for the ground floor when entering the elevator.

When it reaches her floor she walks out and into the foyer scanning the presidium square where Krieg fought the trio that would be responsible for his death. She still had memories of this event and can't help but think of his face before he died. It was like one who had suffered a terrible fate yet was out of control, like a rabid animal. She walks across to a nearby bridge towards the embassies where and takes a good look at the artificial sky and watches it change from day to evening and smiles. However she can't help but feel a familiar presence near her as she turns to a nearby bridge to see no one but pedestrians. Scanning it one more time she shakes it off though she does feel like she is being watched by someone.

While she heads to get a drink both Vessana and Rhodius are sitting on the balcony watching the people below. Her hand is in his as his covers it with his other hand, keeping her warm as she gets close and plants a kiss on his cheek.

"So you're retired then and you want to come and live with me?" she asks.

"Well, not live but until I find a place to stay at least." he answers.

Vessana leans in seductively, "Nonsense, I've waited a long time for us to start a relationship and I want to be as close as possible."

Rhodius smiles, "Well Rhea didn't seem to mind. You know, I told her about when we first met."

"Really, you didn't tell her everything did you?" she asks getting up and sitting on the turian's lap.

"I told her how you defended me in court, but not the payment you received." he says implying something else.

"You know, you could have had any asari maiden you wanted. Why me?" she asks knowing that it was an honest question as years ago he would have been attracted to more youthful asari.

"I don't know, you were just more appealing." he brushes his hand up her leg, "You were first Matriarch I ever saw and I wasn't disappointed."

She smiles, "And the fact I have a daughter didn't bother you?"

He shakes his head, "Not really, I remember my commanding officer at the time we met was with a matron who already had three children, and another one with him. But I think keeping it secret was the better thing for both of us."

She leans her forehead into his, "I know, I suppose I'm lucky to have you here."

Rhodius looks at her and notices the she is elsewhere, "What's wrong Vessana?"

She gives a light cough noticing that her illness was still existent, "I'm scared Vinel."

He holds her a bit tighter, "I'm here Vessana. We'll find out what's wrong with you, together."

Vessana gets up and walks towards the window and looks at herself, "It's not that. It's something else. I've been having nightmares."

"Nightmares?" Rhodius leans up a bit more so he can listen, "What about?"

She continues to look at his reflection on the window rather than turn around, "I don't know. It's hard to say. It feels like a message that I can't seem to understand."

"What kind of message?"

She turns to face him though he does notice the tear running down her left cheek, "I don't know what it was. There were these things, and these spikes, and creatures that looked odd yet familiar chasing me, not stopping just screaming the whole time."

"I'm sure it was just a dream." he reassures her hoping she won't worry.

"No, there's something you need to know." she takes in a deep breath before speaking again, "I became ill the day that Rhea's friend died. You know the one you brought to the Citadel."

"Krieg, I remember." he states remembering his name and referring to him by it.

She leans on the window, "Well when I found Rhea in her room I saw her just standing there, doing nothing. She was in a trance and I didn't know what to do so I… I went into her mind and took whatever it was that made her freeze."

"And it was this dream?" he asks knowing that this was the centre of the discussion.

"I have been unwell ever since, coughing, vomiting, intense headaches, it's all because of this." she states in fear of this revelation.

"I take it Rhea doesn't know?" he looks down to think before facing her again, "Don't tell her."

"What?" she says immediately with surprise.

"Listen, Thalian's just died, she's already in mourning about that. Telling her the truth would only upset her more." he gets up from the balcony and puts his hands on her shoulders to get some reassurance from her. The Matriarch looks up and smiles as she lets him embrace her she rests her head on his collar and peeks over the balcony to see if she can see her daughter.

Her daughter was by now far away from Vessana as she is walking down a flight of stairs towards the access to the wards. Looking around she sees that no one is down the hallways leading to the elevator which was suspicious as there were always people waiting to either go down or come up to the presidium. She shrugs it off however as when she reaches the end waits for a few seconds as the elevator is currently in use.

Leaning against the wall she thinks once again to herself but while this is occurring her eyes are dead still as she is waiting for movement around her. Not seeing what it was something moves in the corner and she immediately turns towards where she came from and sees nothing from her position to around the corner of the flight of stairs. She once again has this feeling that she has been followed since she left her home.

Standing straight and staring towards where she came from she doesn't notice the elevator opening behind her and revealing only one person, Delphine with a pistol in her hand. She inserts the clip into the weapon catching Rhea's attention as she turns around and immediately recognises her.

Using her instinct Rhea is about to turn around and run away from the other asari who is pointing the pistol towards her and pulls the trigger almost immediately though it feels like a lifetime for Rhea. Stopping for a second, she sees that the exit of the bullet was her stomach when she looks down and feels it.

Falling to her knees and breathing heavily Rhea looks behind her to see Delphine approaching her and feels the impact of the back of the younger asari's hand as she backhands her. Lying face first on the ground she feels the floor moving and Delphine grabs her ankle and drags her towards the elevator though the picture in front of her is becoming blurred as the loss of blood cause sher to go into a state of unconsciousness.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker, not knowing that Rhea had a sexual encounter with Delphine a few months before finds the fact that she shot Rhea bit confusing as the he wonders why all of a sudden Delphine was on the side of what looked like a conspiracy linked to the Reapers. He takes another bite of toast and leaves the crust while Rhea herself is lighting a cigarette though since they have met Joker has found the fumes unpleasant but because this was her place, he endures the smoke.

"So Delphine was working for this cult?" he asks not knowing what happened between the two.

"Yeah, what happened when she worked for Thenas, it really disturbed her and the Scythe would take advantage of that." she says with a little pity for her despite what happened.

Joker looks at the remains at his breakfast, "And that C-Sec commissioner was the one who was in charge of the whole experiment on Krieg?"

She nods, "Vetos was a Acolyte of the Scythe. He was put in charge of the whole operation, monitoring the status of the Citadel and the Council and he wasn't the first to do so."

"There was more?" he asks getting more interested in the group that seemed ludicrous not long after he heard of them.

"No, there was always at least one on the Citadel and they were normally a high ranking official. The Scythe infiltrated many governments in order to obtain information and use it to their advantage." Rhea explains putting some of the ash from her cigarette into the ashtray on the table.

"You make it sound like they were the Shadow Broker." Joker thinks to himself for a second, "Wait-"

But Rhea immediately interrupts, "No, they weren't the Shadow Broker as their existence was only known by a few, like the knowledge of the Reapers."

"I take it that Vetos knew about Sovereign being here in the galaxy?" Joker enquires.

Rhea shakes her head in response surprising Joker, "Actually, only those who were considered committed to the Scythe were ever revealed the secrets of Reapers, Vetos hadn't proved himself yet and after the whole incident of holding Krieg and experimenting on him would lead to his death."

"I'm surprised, Vetos was their guy on the Citadel, manipulating everything. What went wrong?"

"Well, there was more to what happened than I ever expected."…

**06/09/2157- Freeways, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Is this the place coming up?" asks Brutagus the spectre as he looks out from an air-car flying through the skies of one of the five wards though for reasons unknown he doesn't reveal which one.

"Yes, Oristar. You wanted the location of the K-Thousand facility, here it is." says a voice coming from the audio of the vehicle as it immediately switches off afterwards.

The air-car was reaching a nearby skyscraper that dwarfed many of the wards buildings, an odd place for a secret project to be held but Brutagus saw through this and instead saw the genius of the Council as no one would suspect such operation in such a visible place. The tower was that for public communication and networking.

The turian has his transport on autopilot as he is sorting out his arsenal for his mission consisting of a pistol of highest quality and an assault rifle to match both a slick red colour to match his armour. He also has a belt of grenades like he was expecting heavy action from where he was going. Looking outside and putting his helmet on, he is nearing the location as he holds his rifle and prepares. He opens the door on the left hand side as he pulls in toward a platform. With timing and precession, the turian uses his natural agility to leap from the car to the platform and just making the edge as the car behind him carries on though turns the corner instead of falling to the ground below meaning that the auto pilot was finding a dark place to hide.

He looks down towards the bottom of wards and sees faint lights of those living where the air is breathable compared to the high altitude of the skyscraper. Brutagus turns around and looks at the path he has to take in order to get the facility in which Krieg was kept. Seeing that the ledge he was standing on was a dead end though he knows that there must be some way inside. Scanning the side of the building the turian sees an air duct on the left hand side and sees this as his only means of entry as he takes a grenade from his hip and throws towards the duct on target and presses a small button on his wrist to trigger it. This isn't followed by an explosion but instead Brutagus watches as the duck slowly melts around the grenade and giving an entrance for the turian.

He puts his rifle on his back and measures the distance from the ledge to the duct, it being about twenty metres away. Taking a few steps back Brutagus prepares for his attempt to leap as he runs and jumps off the ledge. The jump was impossible for the turian but he had something else that would prove useful as he pulls out his pistol and fires a cord towards the inside of the duct and immediately retracting afterwards and pulling the turian towards the duct. He reaches the edge and grabs the ledge pulling himself up into the small hole as he crawls through, he was in the facility.

Brutagus wait's a few seconds before continuing as it is dark and needs some form of light. Lucky for him the night vision built into his helmet gives him a view of his next challenge. Seeing nothing but an endless one way entrance he starts crawling through the vent not seeing another direction he could take. This is easy for him but it is short-lived as a panel underneath him gives way. Though the design is intentional he falls at a considerable length before managing to stop about forty feet down. Brutagus holds a position with his feet on one side and his back on the other and peaks below him to see nothing again but one direction. He pulls his pistol and fires it to the top. It repeats its job as it pulls Brutagus back up to the vent he was crawling through.

He gets back on track and crawls about another thirty yards until he reaches the end and makes a left to see a slope. Knowing that this must be a safer way down he lets gravity take him slowly but the lights on ceiling of the slope makes his vision through his helmet harder for him to see what's in front of him. He does however use his sense of touch as he feels that momentum picking up and the slope getting steeper. Brutagus prepares himself this time as he pulls his pistol out when he nears an entrance into a cylinder room.

Shooting upwards immediately the turian fails to notice that at the bottom of his position is a light and above this a turbine going at a fast pace and causing the light to flicker, revealing the blood stains that were present above the turbine. Brutagus has other things on his mind as he climbs to a ledge that is in the shape of a doorway. He notices that the door isn't open and is locked so he takes his Omni-tool and tries to decrypt the code. Proving successful he enters the room and looks at what was in front of him proves a shock.

He stood in hallway though instead of walls there were a set of seven caskets each side, each built into the wall. The shape of the caskets were surprising to him as they looked like the size that an elcor could fit inside and being about ten feet in height and about five foot across. The caskets were about forty-five degrees to the ceiling and each one had a blue light that shined on to the top which was now covered in dust from being abandoned by whoever was here before Brutagus.

The turian walks up to the first one on the right and wipes the see through glass to reveal that nothing occupied the still active chamber though he was still confused. The door at the far end of the room opens and startles him. He pulls out his pistol and pointing it in that direction. Letting out a loud breath and regaining some of his composure, Brutagus heads to the door but doesn't enter as of this stage encase something is just around the corner. Giving it a second he turns to find a wall but immediately turns to point the opposite way and sees another hallway only narrow and dark. He takes his helmet off when he hears the sound of something coming from the direction he faces and in response creeps down in a stealthier fashion.

When reaching the end to where the noise came from the turian realises that it is coming from the wall on his right as he places the side of his head against it. Listening to the faint sound of music his organic tissue reacts to the wall as it opens and reveals a room, more specifically the very room that Rhea would see Krieg for the last time before his killing spree.

The table was still in the middle of the room and the chairs where tucked underneath. He sees that the place hasn't been used nether have the keepers bothered to clean up after the project. He scans the room to see the various cameras that were put in place but decides not to investigate this further and instead follows the noise coming from the door.

Opening it he finds the corridor that Rhea would follow after revealing to Krieg that she had met someone though the noise was only getting louder. The source of the sound was in fact the lecture theatre where Thenas presented her evidence to the council and other Krieg-related news would be held. Only the large screen was instead used for more casual means as the music played while singing on the screen was an asari soprano and her audience was in the front row.

It was Yanlo, asleep and at peace though he looked a mess as he was wearing bits of the armour he used to fight Krieg. His under-layers are the only form of protection but this didn't matter as his current position and safety was compromised by Brutagus who never suspected for one of his key components of his investigation into Krieg would have found this old facility let alone hide here. He walks slowly and keeps his pistol pointed at the salarian, but a close foot away awakens him. Seeing the weapon before the turian he pulls his pistol and fires though he misses Brutagus who dives into cover while Yanlo stands up.

"Who are you? What to want with me? I've done nothing wrong, I-" his fast talking is interrupted by a bullet hitting him in the stomach and giving him a shock.

As he falls to the ground from the stun bullet and Brutagus comes out of cover and sees Yanlo's face which is that of fear and paranoia, "Yanlo, I presume?"

The salarian looks in horror and can't help but speak in a fast voice, "How do you know my name? How did you get here? You're with them, aren't you?"

"I'm a Spectre if that's what you mean?"

A loud sigh of relief comes from Yanlo, "I was worried, they are looking for me."

"Yes, the Council are looking for you?" Brutagus states thinking he knows what he is talking about.

"No, the Council are finished; we have reached the apex of our demise." Yanlo states as he curls up in a ball panicking.

"You're not making sense, Yanlo. Speak up!" the turian is not impressed by Yanlo's character.

"The computer, the computer in the foyer, look at it. You will find your answers there." he states purposely ignoring him afterwards.

Brutagus puts his weapon away and looks at the scared soul an feels a sense of pity for him as it must have been something horrible for the salarian to reach a state such as this. He walks out of the theatre and turns his head to the right to see the reception and the one console that is on standby, ready for uses.

It is the only light within the room as the facility in which Krieg was kept was indeed very abandoned but at the same time untidy and untouched by the keepers as well. The turian sees the console by the desk where Damina would sit and sits down to look at the screen in front of him. Hesitant at first he presses the open button and the screen opens numerous files within and all in a language that was unreadable to anyone in the galaxy as it wasn't in any turian, asari or salarian dialects. It wasn't even in batarian language as the characters were similar to that were on the insides of Krieg's casket when Rhea first met him. Brutagus takes a chance and opens the first document to reveal a horror he has never know as he leans back and watches what was in front of his eyes.

The secrets he would discover would lead to Vetos, who at this very moment dead though where he died Krinal was standing in the middle of the warehouse silently with his followers remaining in the positions that they greeted Delphine and Vetos. Despite there being life forms within the building, there was no sound among the Scythe.

The Emissary is first to move as it feels the presence of someone approaching the doors and turns to watch Delphine enter pulling a hovering stretcher. On this stretcher is Rhea lying on her back and with her eyes open slipping in and out of consciousness as she sees the fading light of the outer wards and the artificial lights of the warehouse interior. The young asari smiles towards her new master as she presents him with what it has desired for the longest time. He approaches the stretcher and the sound intense breathing can be heard coming from its face letting out some smoke from the small gaps in-between its teeth and its pincers begin to animate.

"At last, Rhea T'Anya. The one responsible for my problems is mine for the taking." it states as coming from his robed arms are his two metal tentacles, hovering over her like they wanted to feed on her.

Delphine doesn't understand the statement he has just exclaimed, "How did she cause you so many problems?"

"Two years ago. I, through a wealthy batarian collector would purchase a piece of technology that was of 'prothean' design. I was interested in the contents and not the artefact. Krieg was the contents and it was because of Rhea that he slipped through the Scythe's hands, now I will exact my revenge upon her and extract the information she possess." Krinal's tentacles prepare as they give off a shrieking sound.

"What will you do with me? I know your secrets." Delphine states with a cocky tone sitting on a crate.

Krinal turns his head and then the rest of his body. Its two tentacles reach for her wrist as it brings her within inches of his face, "You should know better than to play with death, but humiliation is more powerful. Like the way you proved your dominance over Rhea, as Krieg did over you." its words scare her as the tentacle seem to be flashing images into her brain primary of herself being molested by Krieg in his cell. He drops her, "No, I have greater plans for you, Delphine. Patience I will teach to you. But please, allow me my revenge." Krinal's tentacles once again make sounds as they slither towards Rhea's face. She can only see blurs but does notice something above her crawling around past the silver snakes that were about to operate on her.

What she saw was actually the person she felt was following her from her home up and till her encounter Delphine. The figure was clad in armour not of this part of the galaxy as it was Onyx armour, more specifically the lower half, the chest and back. The figure didn't wear the arm and shoulder padding that would have completed the armour but had a pair of fingerless bracers reaching his elbows connecting to a pad on the joint. The pads themselves being a grey colour same the armour. Attached to the centre of his belt on both the front and back is a piece of dirty grey loincloth reaching just below the knees, worn at the end like they have had a history like the rest of his armour which was beaten and worn.

The figures skin colour isn't apparent but had to be dark but would be soon revealed as it jumps from the rafters and lands on the stretcher with his right foot next to the left side of Rhea's head and his left foot in-between the gap of her legs. Krinal immediately looks up to see the very thing he was trying to find as Krieg reveals himself. Delphine looks in a state of fear and confusion as it is Krieg in front of the two of them, only this Krieg looks a lot more of the Krieg that was known to Rhea and Delphine only with absence of his black lacy hair, which he had replaced with a grey bandana. His face was the same as it had always been strong male features and no ears and pure black eyes.

"YOU! GET HIM!" Krinal shouts towards his follows.

They obey and the cloaks burn away to reveal those underneath. One of these being would be the creature that would meet with Vetos months earlier. Three blue lights set in a triangle pointing down and a body of these creatures were more synthetic as their shells are built in the image of the Reapers, being in the shape of cuttlefish but only about the size of an average male human's torso. Instead of the multiple arms that something like Sovereign would have, these machines have four long tentacle in similar design to Krinal's but they do not use these as a form of movement as they hover above the ground and these tentacles retract into their bodies. However they use of these arms were apparent as they hover towards Krieg who is standing over Rhea protecting her as he always would.

Krieg's arms begin to glow blue as he readies his biotics, "Showtime."


	13. Revelations and Returns: Part II

**Chapter XIII: Revelations and Returns: Part II**

**06/09/2157- Unknown Warehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Krieg stands on top of the stretcher where Rhea lay protecting her from the approaching machines called Scythe Drones which were named after the cult of which they came from. Their leader, Krinal watches as they approach the grey alien while Delphine who was victim to Krieg's sexual lusts was looking with a face of disbelief as she was convinced that he was dead.

Rhea only sees a blur of her friend but doesn't realize it is him and due to the circumstances it was best for her to be on the verge of unconsciousness otherwise she may have fainted from shock. The seven drones are first to act in this skirmish as the closest fires one of its four tentacles towards him. Krieg cartwheel's left of this attack and grabs the end of the stretcher directing it down the entrance by pushing it so Rhea was out of the way and safe. He turns his attention back to the drones which the one that attacked is retracting it arm and preparing for another attempt to make contact.

Krieg knows the foe he faces and decides to take a more direct approach in response. He starts by running towards them as fast as he can and when reaching the first drone slides underneath and uses his right hand to grab its furthest tentacle on the left. The drone whips Krieg in the air though this is the response Krieg relishes as he lands on top of the drone and begins to wrestle with it.

Under his direction Krieg uses the drone's arms to attack its brethren by knocking three of them back before he is shaken off and is on the ground once again, now in a more compromising position as two of the drones are facing him while behind him are the other two who weren't touched during his attempt are ready to attack as well.

"Krieg, you are finished as I intended it to be." states Krinal lifting itself on a crate with his arm tentacles.

Krieg smiles as he turns around, "You underestimated me before, what makes you think that you won't make the same mistake twice?"

Krinal's tentacles retract into its body, "I do not have to think, I simply know."

With that small exchange of words Kreig turns back to the action while the weird looking synthetic watches him fight his drones. Krinal watches as Krieg displays and impressive set of actions starting with his use of the tentacles attacking him as he jumps into the air and hops and flips from one to another before using them as platform in order to build some momentum to his advantage. This proves useful as one of the drones gets to confident and raises one of its tentacles higher than the initials attacks allowing Krieg to back-flip onto the tentacle and slide down the slope of it towards the drone. He immediately kicks it in the eyes and stuns its vision and radar for a second.

Another drone grabs Krieg by the wrist and pulls him into mid-air towards it. However Krieg cranks the arm like whip and a surge sends the drone off balance and gives Krieg a chance to land on his feet and release himself from its grasp. The grey alien dodges an array of arms trying to either grab him or stab him with their sharp ends using a variety a cartwheels and a back-flips before doing the splits to and grabbing the two front arms of the closest drone and pulling himself up. This action would have been foolish if it were not for Krieg using his biotics to channel his energy through the machine. Krieg himself is giving off a blue aura a he rips the arms out of the drone and pulls the damage ends to hold as a pair of whips as he is now armed, not having ranged or melee weapons when he arrived.

Even though it is a machine the body language of Krinal is that of concern when it sees Krieg uses these 'chains' with full force as each time he hit's a drone, it stumbles in the air due to the biotic channelling. Krieg hits one across the eyes blinding it this time and it startles waving its arms around and hitting its fellow drones and chopping an arm off one and hitting another on the face plate.

Krieg clears a pathway to finish off the blind duo by firing the chain ends in between the three eyes of the two drones and slamming them to the ground. However Krieg's onslaught doesn't end here as he lets go of the tentacles and grabs the other with both hands as he swings to body of the Scythe drone towards two other drones. He instantly knocks them down and some of their plating becomes debris.

The two Scythe's recover and use their arms to left themselves up but one has an unfortunate fate of being flattened by the same shell on the end of Krieg grip, using the momentum of the horizontal swing to finish with a vertical swing, the shell being the ball and the tentacle being the chain. The other drone is suffering from the impact as it uses its left arms as support while it hovers, but the other three remaining member's crowd around it protecting it from Krieg and showing a sense of tactical thinking.

Krieg steps back a few steps into a brighter part of the space to get a better view of the remaining drones of the Scythe. The three leave the injured drone and circle him and Krieg prepares for a three on one close quarters fight. The drones retract their back arms and begin to use their front arms in a more human like fashion, attempting to attack Krieg via punches of stabbing due to the pointed ends of the tentacles. The grey alien is successful in evading the array of attacks with a sequence of simple jumps and ducks before grabbing an arm and hoisting himself into the air and on top of the drone and once again wrestling in same fashion he did before.

The other two stay away learning from what happened last time Krieg was on top of one of them and watches as Krieg grabs a plate of the drone's armour and attempts to remove it with his hands. Pulling hard, he manages to create an opening wide enough for him to reach for one of the drone's arms and stabs the opening with the sharp end instantly causes the drone to spiral out of control and crashes near the other wreckage. Krieg jumps off at the last minute to avoid the small but prominent explosion that follows.

"Impressive Krieg, you have since become more powerful than I predicted. Vetos made a grave error in underestimating you." Krinal reveals as its drones fall back towards him and Delphine the damaged drone still holding together.

Krieg looks back towards the stretcher that he pushed out to safety knowing that Rhea was the reason why he was here but turns to face Krinal once more, "And where is Vetos? I though you top guy on the Citadel would give me a welcoming return?"

Krinal doesn't give him another word as he claps his hands as his ai-rcar automatically switches on and pulls in towards the group. The synthetic drags Delphine in its car and the damaged drone enters as well while the remaining two to wrap their four arms around the car in protection.

Kreig immediately acts as this is his only opportunity to engage Krinal. As he runs Krieg leaps for the air-car to grab the end of the car and climb onto the top. As the warehouse doors are opening one of the drones releases one of its arms to fight Krieg off. The tentacle is grabbed by Krieg who then dodges the end of the arm, like a snake trying to bite its human victim but after a few quick attempts succeeds in his attack and defence by hitting Krieg in the stomach with his sharp end. Though it doesn't penetrate his skin it digs deep enough into the armour for the drone to channel an electric shock into Krieg and propels back onto the floor. He instantly holds his stomach and breathes deeply, trying to get some air.

He groans to himself as the shock from the Scythe was a hard blow on him as he crawls back towards the stretcher where Rhea is still lying down. He grabs the edge with his left hand while he pulls himself up and holds his stomach with his right hand.

Looking at the asari and the wound in her stomach Krieg quickly acts and begins to treat the wound with supplies that he is carrying via a pouch attached to his belt which happened to be the very same belt that he took from his pod when he awoke. How he reclaimed his property was currently unknown but he obviously he cared enough about it to retrieve the equipment and the contents within it.

While he treats Rhea Brutagus is within the facility he was kept and watches a recording in the screen of the console in front of him. He leans in and watches as he sees Krieg in his cell unconscious by gas that was ventilated from an unknown source. A few seconds later he sees what look like a pair of Scythe drones entering the cell. One is holding an exact replica of Krieg in the same prison-clothes as one picks the 'real' Krieg up and the other replaces the bed he lay on with this Krieg.

Brutagus then realizes that it's possible that the Krieg killed a few months ago and was responsible for the death of many on the project was in fact a clone and the real Krieg was still alive though had no idea that he was on the Citadel at this very moment. The turian takes a small hard-drive from inside a pouch in his belt and downloads everything he can from the console before Yanlo, who he had met not long before finding this revelation walks into the foyer of what was the reception of the whole facility where Damina would do her work during K-Thousand.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" says Yanlo leaning on the doorway.

Brutagus turns to him, "Did you know?"

Yanlo shakes his head, "No, it makes sense now. My diagnosis was wrong, Krieg didn't become mentally unstable. Those things replaced him with-"

The turian stands, "How did you find out? I need this information, Yanlo?"

The salarian looks down, "You know who I am? Then you must know that I along with two others that took down the fake Krieg?" Brautagus nods in response to question before Yanlo leads him down the hallway. They head to what were the laboratories of the facility, where Yanlo, Delphine, Talis and Nemus would conduct research. The salarian had been busy as systems were switched on and various machines were powered up though some of the controls were covered by dust. Yanlo approaches the centre of his research which is a finger he retrieved from the fake Krieg when he killed him and was now in a see-through cylinder with wires attached. "I took this finger from Krieg when he was killed by us. I thought it may help me discover it origins. Only, because I found out that STG were looking for me as well as the Spectre's, I had to hide."

Brutagus examines the finger, "So this belongs to Krieg?"

"The fake Krieg, yes." he press a button and a hologram of two different DNA structures appeared. "The one on you left is Krieg's DNA. As you can see it is well structured sequence and untouched. This was familiar to me because me and Talis studied it together."

Brutagus looks with interest, "What did you find out?"

"Didn't the Council give you an overview?" Yanlo asks expecting a positive answer.

"They weren't exactly helpful; this is out of personal interest." Brutagus says with a little regret.

Yanlo sighs, "I see, well from what we found we discovered that Krieg was a natural biotic like asari are except his levels were higher than what Matriarchs can achieve."

"So he could have escaped anytime?" he asks the salarian worried about the possibility.

He nods with equal concern, "Yes, but he wasn't aware of his potential so we were safe for the time being. We also found that his body is denser than most, giving him additional strength and allowing him to achieve feats like higher jumps and more powerful impact, like with punching. It also makes him more durable than most."

Brutagus crosses his arms unconvinced, "You make him sound like he's perfect?"

"Not completely, his vision was that of interest as he could see colours but in the dark he has a second set of eye lids that give him a limited range of night vision."

"So he could see in the dark as well?" Brutagus leans on a nearby unit as he listens to Yanlo.

"But at a cost. He found it hard living in the cell at the start. He complained that the lights were too bright so he seems to be light sensitive."

Brutagus looks at both holograms and sees slightly different sequences, "So what's the different DNA sequences showing for?"

Yanlo looks at this one with interest himself before speaking, "This is the sequence of what the finger shows. If you look there is major tampering with the structure like he was modified."

"Or cloned?" he asks pushing for his own theory.

The salarian agrees immediately, "Yes, with elements of genetic engineering. On this sequence I found that this Krieg's biotics were enhanced, as well as his sight."

"So he could assassinate in daylight?" the turian says figuring how Krieg who assassinated many of the research team couldn't do so in daytime if his sight was worse.

"Yeah, but even with these strengths his skin tissue was weaker and his intelligence was much lower than the original, I think it may have been brain damaged." he states adding revelations.

Brautagus shakes his head in disagreement, "Why would you clone an intelligent being to be not intelligent."

The salarian hesitates before answering knowing that it may be a farfetched idea, "I think I know why. He was controlled by something; the original Krieg's mind was too complex for control so weakening this element would make him more subservient."

"And this servant would do the work of whoever its master was?" Brutagus adds seeing the possible answer to be correct, "Tell me, did you find out what Krieg's origin was while you were here?"

Yanlo turns and faces a black screen of one of the consoles which begins playing a mute recording of one of his interviews with Thenas, "We found nothing, he had no link to any race within our contact."

"So you don't know if he was engineered?"

Yanlo continues, "The clone that was made wasn't made from an embryo of egg, he was built from scratch. This is why it was weaker than the original and that supports the theory that Krieg is a subject of evolution but at the same time all those advantages, the biotics, the strength, the intelligence, are not normal. We are lucky to have at least one of these assets."

Brutagus picks up the finger taking it out of the jar before putting it in a small container he has for samples and puts it on his belt. He realizes what the current scenario is and begins to walk out the lab, "Well I know one thing. The real Krieg may be still out there."

Yanlo has watched him take his prized possession but knows that he can probably do more than he can now, "Wait, you've seen those pods haven't you?" Yanlo asks knowing of their existence.

The turian turns his head, "Yes, I came through via the vents. They were cloning Krieg right next to you, weren't they?"

"They made fourteen clones, one for each pod." Yanlo states letting Brutagus take it in.

"Do you know what's happened to them?" he asks the salarian.

Yanlo fears himself for revealing the next bit of information, "Eleven died in the initial building process I believe, so they dumped the bodies in the turbine chamber. Three must have survived."

"And one of them you killed, so that leaves two other clones?" Brutagus adds.

"Are you going to arrest me?" Yanlo begins to step back and fear that the Spectre will decide his fate.

The Spectre himself watches Yanlo stumble a bit before answering, "No, you're too valuable. I may need your expertise."

"For what?" Yanlo asks in confusion and surprise.

"We're going to find Krieg." Brutagus states turning around signalling him to follow.

Yanlo begins to hastily follow, "Why do that? He has caused enough trouble as it is."

"That's the point, I don't want him to cause anymore." he states,heading back to the foyer and retrieving his hard-drive full of the information of the K-Thousand project and more.

"What about the Council?" the salarian asks.

Brutagus sighs, "The Council has always been up their asses, even to us Spectre's. Telling them wont amount to anything." he looks around and place and sees the various equipment. "We need to destroy this place."

"What? Why? This holds so many secrets."

"That everyone else can't afford to know about." Brutagus looks towards the corner and notices that a camera is still functioning, "Did you know that security still works?"

Yanlo looks where he is, "Yes, it turns on as soon as something unidentified is in the facility."

With those words the sound of rumbling begins. Since Yanlo has been here he has been watched and therefore they know his and Brutagus' presence within the facility. Brutagus watches the wall of where the noise is coming from and pulls out his rifle in response and points it in the sounds direction. He notices the vent above is going to be the entrance point and moves from the area as Yanlo hides behind the foyer with a pistol. Waiting patiently, he gets on one knee as the sound get louder and louder and eventually reaches a climax of a shrieking sound.

Breaking through the vent is a quartet of silver metal tentacles and pulls itself down is a single Scythe Drone ready to attack the pair however both Yanlo and Brutagus pull their triggers and fire towards the machine. An array of bullets hit the Scythe but makes no significant damage as it keeps composure and begins its attack by firing the two front arms towards the two.

Brutagus dives out the way but manages to grab Yanlo and pushs him down the hallway back near the lecture theatre. It begins to pursue the salarian but in turn Brutagus pursues it and shoots it in the back to get its attention. The drone turns and faces the turian showing its scarred face from the bullets showing life in what is an emotionless machine. Brutagus dodges both arms as he gets close enough to shoot an eye off the drone, causing it to go into frenzy.

Being seasoned but well trained, Brutagus is able to move his way around the waving arms and to Yanlo. He helps him up and leads him away before shooting the drone again. An arm grabs the turian by the ankle and pulls him off his feet is dragged to the drone and lifted off the ground. Ready to stab him, the turian takes his pistol and again fires at the drones face though only successful enough to let him go as he gets up and throws a grenade at it. The grenade proves useful and explodes to knock it back into the lecture theatre where a small second explosion indicates that it is destroyed.

Yanlo limps up to Brutagus, "It one of those things. What the fuck was that thing doing?"

"I don't know, but it knew we were here. Come on." The two of them head back to the foyer to find and exit.

However the life of the drone isn't completely gone as an arm trails silently down towards them like a snake as it raise its head and aims straight for the back of Yanlo, successfully making its way through the salarian's small torso. Yanlo gives off a light breath before Brutagus turns to see what has happened. He watches as the tentacle flings Yanlo back towards from where he came from near the pods.

Bruatgus picks up his assault rifle and fires as soon as the drone turns the corner back into the hall. it itself is now only just holding together by standing up on its arms. It crawls towards where Yanlo is, him crawling away from it and into the secret room where the clones of Krieg were kept which is now empty. Losing blood fast, Yanlo sits up in-between pods and breaths as he hears the sound of the drone crawling up the hallway and into the chamber.

It once again extends its arm and into Yanlo and remains in this position for a few seconds. Yanlo eyes are wide open as he feels something inside of him. Brutagus is too late but fires his gun anyway and manages to knock the drone back a few meters before it is near the edge of the platform where the turbine is. The drone is aware of what could happen but is too weak to act, and the turian kicks the machine off the edge and it falls below. However before it can hit the fan it uses its arms to stretch and impale the tough wall, holding itself only but a foot off the rotating turbine and keep in that positio, defying its inevitable fate as it is too weak to reach for safety. Brutagus knows that it's finished and puts his rifle away as he turns around to see a shocking sight.

Yanlo stands in front of him though unlike the salarian he has just met. He stands up straight and his wound isn't healed but something has grown around it made of grey synthetic tissue and blue lights with his veins and arteries would be. As Yanlo breaths a shrieking sound can be heard like he was possessed by something and runs madly towards Brutagus.

He is confused but at the same time has to act and when the salarian make contact, the turian garbs his arm and with his left hand and turn in to launch Yanlo over the edge of the platform and himself with him. Luckily, Brutagus has his pistol still on hand as he fires the rope attached to it towards the ceiling and he stops about twenty feet from above the drone. Yanlo however continues to fall and land right on top of the drone, pushing it down enough for the turbine to catch it and rip it to shreds.

Yanlo follows the drone and is taken apart within seconds with his blood painting the circle walls and pieces of the drone bounce from one end to another before falling through. Brutagus looks down regrettably as he has seen another member of the research team into Krieg die, under more unfortunate circumstances this time. Brutagus' cord retracts and he lands himself back on the platform before he looks down towards what is left of the salarian, bloodstains.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"So Krieg was alive all a long? This is getting too weird." Joker states not knowing what to believe as Rhea had eluded that Krieg was killed by Yanlo, Chek and Tido a few months before.

Rhea understands but continues anyway, "That's what I thought, but Yanlo was right. The Krieg that was cloned and the one killed in front of me was one of those clones."

"And the one that appeared in front of you and this Krinal?" asks Joker,leaning on the table as he keeps seated.

"He was the real Krieg, I knew from first sight." she smiles thinking back though she hasn't come to that part yet.

Joker however isn't so convinced, "But how? If it was a clone then they would look the same."

"They might have looked the same Joker, but when you see someone that you haven't seen for a long time you know its them." she explains to him.

Joker thinks to himself for a seconds and realizes what she meant and goes for his experience of a similar situation, "I suppose you're right. When Shepard was brought back to life, I didn't know what to think but when I saw with my own two eyes…I guess I'll let you off with that one." he goes on to state the obvious, "You must have been shocked though?"

Rhea looks at him, "That wasn't the half of it. Once again things were being shaken up."…

**09/09/2157- Rhea's Bedroom, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Three days had passed since Rhea fell into her slumber. The fact that she was only asleep was a good sign from the state she was in when Krieg found her in the abandoned warehouse. At this time she sees nothing but darkness and something was covering her eyes as she reaches and feels her faces with her right hand to feel a cover and takes it off. The light from the outside is shining through the open window and at first glimpse is blinding to her as she shields her eyes from it before sitting up to get a bearing of her surroundings.

When sitting up she immediately holds her stomach and feels the wound that was given to her by Delphine, like what she already did wasn't enough. Looking down she sees bandages wrapped around her body and her treatment was of a very good standard which she knew from being a medic herself. However she also realized that at this very moment she was naked and reaches for her silk robe and putting it on when she stands. Rhodius is walking up the stairs at this time on the wall but isn't aware that she is awake when he enters and is surprised to see he up though holding her stomach.

"Rhea, what are you doing up?" the turian asks walking to her and trying to guide her back to bed, "You should be lying down."

Rhea gently pushes him off and takes a few breaths, "I'll be fine, what happened to me?"

"You were shot in the stomach and you were brought back here." he explains.

Rhea looks at him as she isn't as sure and remembers being taken somewhere first, "No, I was taken somewhere before I got here."

Rhodius' expression is that of someone who is hiding something as he looks towards the doorway. Rhea walks through and down the stairs into the main room of the apartment to find that no one is in here however sounds could be heard from Vessana office. She sees that the doors are shut so it's a private conversation though her curiosity is the best of her at this very time.

Approaching the door, she hesitates when putting her hand against it and letting it open and when she's sees what's before her, she is in awe. Both figures have stood up and one is her mother standing behind her desk but the other was a sight she had since long forgotten or at least tried to forget.

Krieg turns to face her and she can't believe that how much he looked different, his face stayed the same, only he is smiling at the sight of his old friend. Without thinking she runs up and hugs him and keeps the embrace long while her mother smiles at the reunion. Though how much she wishes to hold onto him she can't because of the pain from her stomach is still tender but instead of asking if she is alright he guides her into the main room and escorts her to the couch where she sits and him beside her on her right. Both Vessana and Rhodius join them at this point sitting on the opposite side of the horseshoe couch.

"I thought you were dead?" Rhea says taking a grip of his hand.

He shakes his head in disagreement naturally, "No, that wasn't me. You mother filled me in on what's happened here on the Citadel."

She turns to her mother, "You told him about…him?"

Vessana nods, "Yes, Krieg here has explained his theory."

She turns back to Krieg and listens to him, "Not long after you came to visit me I was replaced with duplicate. I believe that is the one that escaped and killed Thenas and her team." he looks away in shame as it was his image committing the crimes.

Rhea is shocked at the revelation. "Like a clone, what did they want with you?"

A long pause follows this question, "I don't know. All I know is what transpired here and came back as fast as I could, there were hiccups however."

"Where were you?" she asks curious about his whereabouts for almost a year.

Vessana interrupts, "Rhea, don't ask too many questions, you should get back to bed."

"Mother, I'm fine." she forgets her previous question and move to another, "So now you're back, what are you going to do?"

"Well I can't stay for too long otherwise C-Sec might find me, with the whole incident in the warehouse going on." he lets go of her hand and gets up walking to the window and taking a glance outside.

She stands up and faces his back as he remains still, "Don't leave Krieg, not again."

He responds by turning around and faces her with regret, "I wish I didn't have to but I don't fit in here."

Rhodius nods in agreement, "He's right, we're lucky that we haven't been caught after three days of keeping him here."

"Well, do you have a ship and supplies." she asks hoping that he may need them to stay a little longer.

"Yes, I do have a ship but I am having trouble getting to it at the moment?" he turns to Rhodius still sitting next to Vessana, "I might need your help getting me clearance off the Citadel."

"I can help you with that, show me what you need doing." the formal general states as he gets up and leads the grey alien into Vessana's office.

"Thanks." can be heard from him though his eyes are looking at Rhea the whole time before he leaves the room.

Vessana looks at her daughter and speaks to break her attention, "Glad to have him back?"

"Yeah. So you think its him?" she wonders not sure about her confidence.

"If you believe he is, he must be." she states though the reaction of her daughter is that of confusion, "What?"

Rhea looks at Vessana and sees something strange, "You seem happier, like you're not ill."

"I'm not, not anymore. Krieg healed me." Vessana gets up and begins leading her daughter back upstairs.

"Healed you, how did he do that? You had an unknown disease." she states knowing her condition.

Vessana laughs, "Rhea, shut up and go gets some rest." she jokes as she watches her make her way up the stairs.

Rhea turns around half way up, "Oh, by the way. I'm glad you're better." she finishes before heading up to her room.

While a happy reunion has come down Rhea's path the turian Spectre Brutagus hasn't had a good few days as he has discovered things that he wished he hadn't. At this moment in time he sits on the foot of his bed within his small apartment. A stark contrast to what an agent of a galactic peace organization would be perceived to live in but he must be an exception. The contents of his apartment are that of a stereotypical male who is single as it had various mess on parts of the floor, made up from clipboards to bottles from various beverages while the layout was made of a bedroom a kitchen unit a with the of an en-suite bathroom.

He himself was reading a clipboard with a recent message sent to him. However his eyes are disturbed by the sound of a door-buzzer and response he gets up and walks towards the sounds origin. He presses a button to see a familiar face. Santi stands wearing her C-sec uniform plus a blue poncho to cover her torso and she looks at him, wearing just causal turian attire.

"Santi, what are you doing here?" he asks looking at the asari in surprise.

"Hello to you too." she says with a smile despite the greeting.

"Oh, sorry, please come in." he allows her in his apartment and heads to the small kitchen unit, "You want something to drink? I always kept something non-turian in my fridge."

"Sure." she answers as she looks at the turians apartment which she is surprised at how untidy it is. "This is a nice place you have."

"I didn't know C-Sec officers are such bad liars?" he states as he pours a glass of juice for his guest and walks to her, "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you. Here you go."

She takes the glass and sits down on the foot of the bed, "Thanks, so how have you been?"

He sits down next to her, "Okay, I've been better but I'm fine for the moment. How C-Sec treating you?" he asks as he watches her take a sip.

She smiles and shrugs, "It's normal, catch the crook, fill the paperwork. Things are pretty much back to normal."

He nods, "Good, I heard about the fire down in the morgue. I also heard that K-Thousand's body was destroyed in it?" he says alluding to the conversation that Vetos had with the Scythe drone months earlier.

"Yeah, a gas leak set itself alight. Commissioner Vetos just ignored any sabotage claims and put it at the bottom of the pile." she says unimpressed with the now former Commissioner though she doesn't know that.

"You think someone intentionally did that?" he asks trying to think the best of the slimy turian he knew.

"Yeah." she answers though quickly changes the subject, "Listen, can we not talk about work."

"Sure, but I take it that's not why you're here?" he looks down towards her stomach, "Have you taken a test yet?"

Santi nods and smiles at him, "Yeah, it was positive. I'm pregnant."

"Congratulations, I'm happy for you. Now you have what you wanted." he is happy for the asari and places his hand around her and squeezed her shoulder.

She leans her head on his shoulder, "Couldn't have done it without you though, daddy."

Brutagus raises his head and thinks about this, "I thought we agreed to keep our distance after?"

"We have, but I thought I would tell you that you are going to be a father, I owe you that at least." she looks at the turian's expression and turns concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I've just had a stressful few days that's all, Council Business." he acts like he doesn't want the issue pursued.

"Oh, well do you want to talk about it? Can you talk about it?" she wonder knowing that some of his assignments are classified.

"Some of it, I found Yanlo." he states surprising his guest.

"The guy that you were looking for a while back, what happened?"

He thinks back to the Scythe drone killing the salarian and closes his eyes in guilt, "Well he was killed, and I should have protected him from it."

"From what?" she puts her arm around him, "Tell me?"

"It was horrible; it had these glowing blue eyes, flying around, and then those arms."

Santi looks at him in confusion not knowing the description, "Oristar, What are you talking about?"

"Never mind, he died and I couldn't stop it. I guess I'm feeling guilty that's all." Brutagus looks at her and smiles, "I thought that we weren't taking about work?" He says reminding her, "What are you going to do now you've got a little one on the way?" he asks wondering about the future of his child.

"Well, I was thinking about moving from the Citadel eventually. I want the child to be born with a planet on the birth information." she jokes the turian giving a weak smile, "And I was thinking about her name."

This catches his attention more, "Oh yeah what did you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking about naming her after my mother, Cylintia." she states.

"Beautiful name." he remarks and in response gets up and walks towards his desk and takes a credit chit and looks at it to himself. "Let me give you something, a gift from her father."

He tosses it over towards her as she catches it and looks at it in confusion, "A credit chit?"

"It has a lot of credits on it, about fifteen years pay in fact." he states not regretting his decision as it has become his child's inheritance.

She stands up and tries to put it in his hand, "I can't take this, Oristar. It's your money, not mine."

"It's her money, use it for her." he closes the palm of her hand the chit with it, "I wouldn't use it anyway, spoil her."

She smiles to her friend, "Thank you." leaning in for a kiss her lips touch the turian cheek, "Do you want me to keep contact with you?"

He continues to hold her, "I'll keep in contact with you; I don't know what my work schedule will be."

"Okay, see you when I see you I guess." she finishes her drink and put the glass on the floor with the other mess. She turns around and head out the door of the apartment leaving Brutagus by himself once again.

The next morning, Rhea is walking towards the docking bays with Rhodius as they head towards the foyer where Krieg's ship is supposedly docked. On the other side of the docking bay are C-sec officers doing their usual duties though both the asari and the turian ignore their presence and the two head up to a hole in wall by the docking bay.

The General takes a card from out of his pocket and looks at it for a second as it is a registration card stating who the owner of the vessel is. It is in a language neither of them can understand as he scans it across the sensors which at first give the impression that they do not recognize the signature however for those few momentsbut which Rhea's heart is eventually satisfied when the sound of the all clear passes through the system. Rhodius himself is relieved at what has just happened and looks around the corner to see a door opening. They both head through the doors and see the ship that Krieg now owns and are shocked in the design as Rhodius recognises it.

It was of human design, more specifically the Kolwoon class used by traders to carry cargo only this one looked very unused as the grey wall plates the ship had a shine to them like they were untouched. Rhodius had memory of these ships while serving on Shanxi as he was part of the blockade above the planet having to shoot down these ships as they approached.

Rhea however didn't know and is intrigued with the technology though as she walks around to the side of the ship as it was in a garage rather than hanging in an open docking bay that were reserved for military ships. She looks to see a few crates surrounding an opening at the starboard-rear end the ship, a long ramp high enough for the crates to be wheeled up. Krieg walks down the ramp picking up one of the crates with his hands and walking up.

"Krieg!" Rhea shouts approaching him.

He turns to see the asari, "Oh, hey Rhea. Come to say goodbye?" he asks as he enters the vessel.

She follows him to see him walk down a small hallway into a larger room into another hallway with a closed door and finally into the main storage room where all the cargo is, and by the amount of crates there was a lot, "Where did you get this ship from?"

"Oh, I found it abandoned on a planet so I took it." he states avoiding the subject.

Rhodius enters the ship and looks around to see the various boxes that the interior possess, "Impressive, Krieg. This ship is surely a good design but it isn't able to protect you?"

Krieg understands his concern, "Not yet, but I do have plans to enhance the ship."

"Be see that you do." the former general remarks, "What's in these crates?"

"History." is the only word he uses as he looks at one of the crates next to him. Using his hands to open a portion the crate, he puts his arm inside and takes out a primitive object. It is a thick book made from paper and a hard back. "This, my friends is a bible. It's a piece of literature that focuses on a religious denomination of humanity."

"Humanity?" Rhea looks at the book as it is passed to her not understanding the language in front of her, "This is a human ship?"

He nods as he opens a box opposite the crate of books and reaches in to take another object, a helmet that would have been worn by an English crusader. "All these boxes contain information of on Humanity, from their primitive times, up until the conflict with the turians. It's amazing, did you know that their relay was encased in ice but few years ago, posing as a moon."

Rhodius opens a box himself to see the contents inside. He takes out a katana and pulls the weapon out its case it to see the ancient blade, "And what do you intend to do with this information, the Council could use this knowledge."

Krieg looks at him, "No, the Council should learn for themselves. Besides, I wouldn't mind learning more for myself, these are artefacts in these crates."

"Are you going to sell them?" Rhea asks looking at the pages of the bible.

"No, I don't think I could really make money from these anyway." he walks up to another crate larger than the other and opens the side the wall of the crate falling down and appearing inside is a motorbike.

Rhea puts the bible on the crate and walks up to her friend, "So, this is it then, you're leaving."

Krieg looks at the motorbike ignoring her body, "Funny, I was under the impression that you were coming with me?"

She looks at him with surprise, "What are you talking about?"

"Well, despite me leaving the main reason why I am back was you?" he says while getting up and holding her arms, "The long days that I was away, I thought about the possibility that we would carry on where we left off?"

Rhea looks down in shame thinking about the important things in her life at this very moment which was few. "Krieg, my life's here on the Citadel."

"Rhea, those things I fought in the warehouse, they knew who you were. They'll come for you eventually." he states.

"I'll be fine. Besides my mother would be mortified." she turns to Rhodius, "Right?"

Rhodius puts down the sword he was holding, "Rhea, he's right, you're in danger."

Rhea looks at him with disbelief, "But mother?"

"Agrees with him, she said that you could go." he pulls out a small object from a loose pocket, "Like you'd listen to her anyway."

As he places the object upon a crate a hologram which is the bust of Vessana, "Hello…hello…is this on?" she asks.

Rhea walks up towards the live hologram, "Mother, what's going on?"

"Oh Rhea, you're there? I guess you are wandering why you can see this hologram?" the elder asari states to her daughter.

"Well, yeah?"

"Well, when you were asleep Krieg told us about his time away from you and the secrets he has discovered which I'll leave him to tell you about. He brought back a piece of machine to prove it and I along with Vinel grew concerned so we think it best that you go with Krieg."

Rhea looks at the vision of her mother in confusion, "Wait, you want me to go?"

"Rhea, I know you think that all your life I have been keeping a close eye on you and I know how much you hated my parenting. I think it was because when me and your father parted ways, I wanted you close. I had no one else and I loved you more than anyone could."

"Then why let me leave?"

"A few years ago, when you left for Illium I didn't realize my faults as a parent but when you came back, I feel that our relationship has improved, Vinel taught me a lot."

Rhea looks at the turian standing tall and looks back towards her mother, "But I don't have anything packed?"

"You do, Krieg has your stuff on the ship. He is a good person, I never understood what you saw in him, but now I can't protect you."

"From what?"

"I'll let him fill you in on that." the hologram shows an almost broken down Vessana, "Enjoy yourself Rhea, I love you."

A tear falls from Rhea's eye, "I love you too mother, thank you." she wishes that she could hug her mother but watches the hologram fades. She looks towards Vinel Rhodius, who is ready to make his exit and she in response walks up to him and hugs him.

He stands surprised as he embraces her, "Whoa, I didn't expect this?"

She lets go and smiles, "That's for you and mother, I don't know how long I will be but I know you'll make her happy." she says.

Rhodius heads over to one of the crates that stands out more being red instead of the generic blue of humanities design. He opens it to take out a box the size of suit case and opens it to reveal a jet black pistol with a silver hilt. There were blue marks which lit up when activated. He picks up the weapon and puts it in Rhea's hand. "This is my personal piece, I had made thirty years ago and it's never failed me."

Rhea looks at the design and realizes there is an opening for a clip, "But this needs ammunition, weapons haven't needed ammo in years."

Rhodius sighs, "Listen, most weapons these days are made to be faultless. But as an experienced soldier I prefer something that is reliable and not something that overheats with constant use. Trust me, clips will always have a place." He nods as he looks over to Krieg who is minding his own business. He leans in towards her, "Look after yourself, okay." and hugs her again before turning around and heads out down the ramp behind him and leaves the two of them alone.

"So, ready for another spin across the galaxy?" he asks in a cocky tone as he takes a small box out of one of the crates. Opening it he reveals a selection of four-inch hand-made cigars already cut and ready to be smoked. Rhea watches as he takes one out and closes the box and puts the cigar in his mouth. He reaches in a pouch in his belt and takes a lighter and with a movement of his thumbs and a flame appears and he lights the tobacco in front of the asari, who is intrigued.

However decides to answer him, "Sure, but I don't think I can do much with this hole in my stomach." she says acknowledging her wound.

He begins to walk through the maze of boxes, "Don't worry, my first goal is to wait out awhile somewhere in the Traverse, keep the Citadel of our backs." he states as they reach a door to the front of the ship. The door opens and reveals a hallway with three doors, one straight ahead and ones on their left and right. He takes a smoke of his cigar before speaking again, "Your room is on the right, mines on the left. You can do what you want with it and some of your stuff is already in there."

"Thanks, for everything." she says as she walks up to the door and looks at it before pressing the open button and wandering into her new home. She looks at the place for a second and sees that it is almost untouched. It was a bedroom but had two foldout beds on her right and on her left were some generators for the ship. There was various crates and boxes within the room though they didn't form any kind of hindrance as they were at the far end while near to Rhea's position happened to be a few pieces of medical equipment she can uses to treat herself for the time being.

Krieg on the other hand thinks to himself for that moment taking in her sweet voice once more before heading towards the cockpit in front of him. He enters and sees the three chairs, two for co-pilots and the middle for the main pilot which he inhabits. The seat itself already looks warn in as there is an ashtray on a nearby armrest with a few cigar buds in and the ash with it. He sits down and turns on the system and the ship comes to life and therefore they are ready to leave.

He begins to raise the ramp and the exhausts as he watches from a screen and the ship lifts off the ground and begins to exit the port of the Citadel. He puts it on auto pilot about fifteen minutes later as he stands up and walks back towards the storage room in the middle of the ship and once again through the maze of crates filled with human culture. He stops before an opening and looks before him before walking into the space.

By this time Rhea has come out of her room and looks not at Krieg but the object before her, "What was it?"

"It was a weapon, a weapon of a more powerful wielder." he states, revealing the object to be the corpse or remains of one the Scythe drones that attacked him.

"Will my mother be alright?" she asks him hoping Vessana will be protected.

He takes another smoke of his cigar, "I wiped as much information as I could but I can't say for sure. She said as long as you are safe, she doesn't care."

"Why would she do that?" she asks herself though speaks it aloud.

He turns to face her, "Because she loves you…" he stays silent as he retracts his next statement for once again a stare at the dead drone, "Rhea, I going to protect you, you know that?"

"I know, you haven't done anything else." she states while smiling.

He turns to her, "But this time, I will." he says doubting the last time they were together.

"You did before, I still have faith in you." she says leaning in to him a giving a peak on the cheek before heading out back into the maze of crates leaving him alone once again.

The grey alien crouches before the debris and scans the remains, blowing out the smoke of his cigar before putting it back in his mouth and grabbing the head-case of the drone, removing it to find the insides very interesting to look at. Inside there is many wires used to power up the machine and the hardware inside was completely fried.

He blows smoke over it while the autopilot takes the ship and he thinks about the fate of this debris and what could he get from this piece of what is a bigger and deadly force within the galaxy. With no knowledge except their name and their Emissary, Krinal, Krieg looks into the three eyes of the dead drone and his expression is that of him looking into the face of Emissary, full of confusion and hatred though the reason eludes him why.


	14. Learning the Basics

**Chapter XIV: Learning the Basics**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker sits on the horseshoe couch of the main room within the safest place on the Citadel holding a glass of whiskey in his right hand and remote on his left as he keeps changing the channel of the Citadel network broadcasts. He doesn't tend to get time to relax to himself as he prefers the comfort of the pilot's chair but this would have to be content. He stops at the sports channel as he watches an anchor and his pundits reminiscing about various sports throughout space from human to hanar.

However while he looks after himself in this room down a narrow hallway is Rhea sitting in a small cubical with what looks like a whole system of communications equipment. She has headphones on and a microphone attached to it and is looking at the screens with the area of the Citadel on them. She watches the various cameras surrounding the Dark Star and watches as Captain Bailey clearing what was left of the crime scene with his fellow officers. All she knew of the situation was that Cerberus had tracked her down and an agent was sent to take her out but got the wrong asari.

Though Joker was a Cerberus agent still she brought him here to her hideout so he was safe from the organization he joined. She sits there and watches the live videos while listening to someone else down the other end of the line.

"I can't believe they are closing the investigation." she states looking into the screen, "What have you got?" she asks.

"Not much, Cerberus doesn't know that Joker is with you and that's a good thing. It means that he can be cut loose." a deep voice answers down the line done to prevent identification.

"So they didn't know I was talking to him in the bar?" she says in disbelief as she thought that Joker was in just as much danger as she was.

"No they didn't. They still think Joker is on the Normandy, but it's in port. We have a few of us looking at the ship now."

"What's the situation?" she asks the voice.

"No idea, the technology cloaks all signs of life on the ship. You know what this means?"

"That we don't know if Shepard's in there alive or if the Collector base was destroyed." she states leaving future events uncertain.

"Affirmative, we could board the vessel-"

Rhea interrupts "No, we can't afford to let others Cerberus agents know we're here."

"Then why tell Joker now and not until we recruited him officially?"

"It was the only way I could get the truth about the Illusive Man's mission. He is the only member of the initial team that we could track, his records helped us with that." she looks to see if Joker can hear from back in the main room but seems oblivious, "How long do you think we'll have to stay here for?"

"A few more days, minimum. Don't worry Rhea, we'll find this agent. Out." the line goes dead after this statement.

Rhea takes of the headphones and walks back into the main room to see her new human friend watching the screen casually but he is not paying too much attention to it. She sits down to his right and looks at the screen which now gives the match scores of certain sports.

Joker continues to look at the screen but begins to speak, "You know, Krieg is interesting as he was found by you in box beneath a ship. Weren't you afraid enough to pull that trigger when you first met him?"

Rhea realizes the point raised in Joker's question as she thinks back to when she first saw Krieg, naked and holding her arm, "I guess I wasn't tempted at all, despite being scared for my life I saw an innocence in his eyes. When we were on Omega he saved me, he protected me against Samara and against Krinal."

Joker questions further, "What was different the second time around, I mean he was gone a long while?"

"Sure, he had changed. Krieg, despite his politeness and skills in combat, was very introverted most of the time, he was more interested in things that we wouldn't see important."

"Like what?"

She smiles at the memories, "Knowledge, he had a hunger for knowledge that was unmatched. He was interested in your kind since he had that ship he took."

"You said it had all of our history on there, why was that?" Joker inquires curious on such a find.

"He told me originally that when a new colony was established on a new world, they would send cargo ships with materials for learning. However, they would also send stuff like building tools as well as antiques." she states filling in some of the missing information.

"So how did you put it to use?"

"Well I couldn't read or speak your languages for starters, so I had to learn literally." she acknowledges the importance of communication.

"Was that the same with Krieg, he couldn't use the stuff in the ship?" he implies knowing Krieg method needed a person to learn.

"No quite the opposite. When I first met Krieg he scanned my mind for communication skills and because my brain was used to the translation chip, he learned the many of the official languages of Citadel Space almost instantly. He taught me how to speak English without any translation aide." she says clearly.

"He taught you English?" Joker is taken aback by this.

She nods, "Yeah, the Alliance was known to distribute materials in certain languages, English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, all sorts."

"So you could speak English on a good level?"

"Well we spoke it none stop for about six months, and I was fluent." she continues.

"Six months, and you were on that ship the whole time. You must have been bored with no one else this time?" he says referring back to her time on the ship with Vlax.

"It was, however I was healing from that wound given by Delphine so it wasn't exactly ready for anything big."

He takes a sip of his drink, "What did you do with your time?"

"I watched vids of humanity's history, interesting." she looks at the screen.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Joker looks at her with an offended expression.

She chuckles to herself, "From the Ice Age to the discovery of the relays, and the violence it took to get there. I'll be honest your history makes ours look peaceful, I think the krogan would have been impressed with acts like the Atom Bomb despite it being horrible."

Joker thinks back and remembers being taught it in school, "Well we have come a long way since then." he states.

Rhea raises an eyebrow, "Yeah, it shows."

Joker knows that humanity doesn't have an impressive record even within their own community let alone the galactic community but decides to asks a different question, "So when did things start to get interesting with you and Krieg?"

She thinks back to herself, "Well we were on the ship, called MSV Angel for nearly a year. Krieg thought it best to stay away from the Citadel for a while as well as the Terminus so we hid in the Attican Traverse, scouting planets that you may have gone to on the travels searching Saren."…

**22/12/2157- MSV Angel, Somewhere in the Attican Traverse**

Rhea sits in her room within the ship which has changed significantly in the last six months as it has become more personalized. While generators are on one side of the room and the beds are on the other she sits at a desk at the far end from the door. The desk was obviously meant for the person who was to be having it delivered to the ships original destination.

Instead of a typical console that she would have to use at the Citadel or anywhere else in the galaxy, she has had to get used to using human technology which was seen as backward to her as she was so used to using holographic materials instead of a keyboard of a laptop, though for the twenty-second century the laptops were state of the art. Her silver desk doesn't have only a laptop but also a few books next to it, most notably a dictionary and some literature.

Sitting back she feels her stomach from when Delphine shot her. The wound had healed nicely but she was too shy to wear anything revealing. Her attire was a standard medical outfit, not different from the present day. She is currently reading a diagnostic on the ships systems, all written in English as she looks at the symbols thoroughly until she reaches the end. When finished she switches the computer off and stands up stretching her arms and legs before she heads out of her room. She looks to her right and sees that once again the cockpit is on autopilot and Krieg isn't taking control of the ship, leaving it to the Virtual Intelligence. Rhea knows that if he isn't piloting the ship, he is within his own room opposite hers. She walks up the door and presses the button and it opens to see her friend's domain.

While hers is tidy and clean Krieg's room is set out completely differently; the bed he sleeps on at the far end while the second bed has bed taken apart, the bedding removed and nowhere to be seen and the actual bed itself has been converted into a workbench in the centre of the room where Krieg stands with his back turned while he is working on something.

She scans the room and sees the various equipment that he has scattered from tools and manuals to the pair of laptops that are on the other side of the room on a small table with a chair for him to sit down, wires leading from it to the centre towards the make shift table. Krieg is wearing the bottom half of his armour while the torso plates lay on his bed as he is currently using a blowtorch and is wearing the mask to match as the sparks from his project he was working on was hitting.

"Krieg?" Rhea says trying to get his attention.

He turns around to see her as he lifts his mask up, "Oh, hey Rhea. What do you need?"

"I was going to get something from the fridge, do you want something?" she asks him and leans over to see what Krieg was working on. Since their voyage began Krieg has taken apart the Scythe Drone he recovered and has been rebuilding it from the ground up as the shell is on the table and the crest was wide open. It looks the same as it did but the difference was the tentacles had been completely removed and in their place are small turrets and behind them are small thermal boxes. "What are you doing now?" she asks walking up to it.

"I adding mini-turrets where the tentacles were, I've installed thermal generators instead." he states.

"So what does that mean?" she asks him inspecting his work.

"Well it means that it has an unlimited supply of ammo, but over firing will cause overheating. I'll be programming it soon." he heads over to his laptop and types something into it shutting the thing down for a while. He then walks to the bedding where he sleeps and take a baggy t-shirt and puts it on over his bare chest, "Come on, I'll join you."

"Okay." Rhea answers as she leads Krieg out of his bedroom and workshop. They both turn right and into the cargo area where the scene now was a little more different in the formation as many of the box had been moved aside to make a single walkway for the two of them but there were also small spaces where certain appliances were placed, one of which being the 'kitchen'.

It was made up of an refrigerator unit and other equipment placed one top of three-foot crates, one being an oven and the other being micro panel, a round object with the same function as a microwave only you covered your meal with a half-spherical object to protect yourself. The kitchen equipment is not of human design and is one of the only things in the room that was made or created by a different race of alien.

Rhea opens the fridge and takes out a can and puts it on the panel and then the top over it, pressing something into the holographic timer for four minutes. Krieg also goes into the fridge and reaches for a loaf of bread, obviously well preserved to last long condition. Taking a slice he put the loaf back into the fridge and takes a bite of the plane slice of bread. He enjoys it despite there not being anything on it.

"How's your stomach?" Krieg asks with his mouth partially full.

"Better, but I think it won't heal completely until another few months." she answers, "Have you hacked into the Citadel Network yet?"

He nods, "I've have, there is no mention on the K-Thousand project. Your mother has relocated back to Thessia with General Rhodius away from the Citadel."

"Is she okay? Do you know?" Rhea expresses concern for her mother's safet, knowing the trouble that seems to follow the two of them.

He walks over to his hand on her shoulder leaning against the crate, "She'll be fine, staying away was the best thing. Krinal knows who you are but he knows that using your mother isn't worth the effort."

"I don't get it, I remember when they were looking into the murders that…your clone committed. A few people asked me about someone called Sintarrio, but I didn't see it as anything significant." she thinks back remembering the story Thalian had told her about his friend.

"Sintarrio, it must have been a piece of information given by accident, to put C-Sec off track." he thinks silently to himself before continuing, "Either way we now know who our enemy is, all we can do is bide our time."

"For what?" she looks at him.

He however looks in another direction, "To face him, and his cult."

Rhea thinks about the idea and how suicidal it is, "You can't be serious?"

He sighs, "Rhea, we can't hide in this ship forever. They'll find us eventually."

"I know." she acknowledges his answer for truth, "How did you find out about that Krinal anyway?"

"When I was switched, it was under the order of Krinal through Vetos and that was the first time I met that turian. The Scythe had put him in C-Sec as a mole, feeding them information about the Citadel. I don't know where I was meant to be going but I didn't stop to think about it when escaped. I high-jacked a small ship I was contained." he takes another bite of his bread, "There was no crew, just those Scythe Drones you saw."

"And you stayed away from the Citadel for a long while?" she states contributing to the story.

"Yeah, I needed find food, supplies, and be prepared for my return. Looks like I got lucky, eh?" he remarks referring to the ship.

"I guess, but now we are here. We should focus on now." she state, thinking positive.

He smiles and nods, "Agreed." he leans off of the crate and walks into the main space of the cargo bay, "Which brings me to my next question, or proposal."

She raises an eyebrow and looks at him, "What sort of proposal?"

"If we're going to face Krinal eventually, it is only wise that we are both prepared in more ways than one." he begins to circle Rhea, "Since I've known you Rhea, I know that you best skills are that of a medic as you have treated numerous people and yourself with your injury. However you're combat abilities aren't exactly up to standard, well not compared to mine anyway."

"Show-off." she states knowing there is some truth about it though.

"However, I have a lot of experience and some of it I can't explain but I believe I could teach it to you." he says making his proposal.

"You want to mentor me then?" she asks.

"Yes, both in weapons combat, hand to hand…and biotically as well." he says reluctantly.

Rhea here the last and knows that her abilities are not very controllable; "I don't know about that last one. I've always had trouble with my biotics."

Krieg puts his arm around her, "Don't worry, I help you control it." he puts his hand out, "I will train you to fight with me, deal?"

She looks into his eyes and sees nothing but honesty in wanting to help her, "Deal." she shakes his hand, "Where do we start?" she asks him.

Krieg looks around the cargo hold and see nothing but various bits of scrap and objects from earth's history. He walks up to a row of crates and opens one to reveal nothing but books as he takes the first one that touches his hands and throws it to Rhea. Catching it in her hands she looks at the burgundy cover and sees that it is a work of fiction. Krieg takes another book out for himself and heads over back to Rhea with a smile on his face.

"What are we doing?" Rhea asks not impressed so far, "Reading?"

Krieg chuckles, "No Rhea, what we're doing your first lesson in biotics."

"My first lesson, doing what?" she asks him curiously.

"It's not much, but I'm going to teach you to levitate that book in your hands." he states.

Rhea looks confused, "Wait a minute. I don't think I'm up to this Krieg."

"Bullshit." he says as he lets his book go and before it can hit the floor a blue aura surrounds it and the same aura surrounds his left hand, "This is always considered the basic way to learn how to use biotics, now levitate the book."

"Levitate the book? Are you serious?" Rhea asks looking at Krieg and not the floating book.

"Come on, do it." Krieg replies.

Rhea looks at the book in her hands and sighs knowing that Krieg means well but her lack of confidence in her own ability inhibits her from lifting the book. She tries to clear her mind of all other thoughts and begins to follow the instructions that she was given originally of gaining confidence and patience. Krieg watches her as she let's go of the book which at first gives off an erratic aura, keeping it a float in quick periods. Rhea opens her eyes and sees the book fall to the ground, Krieg pulling a face and a small sign of disappointment.

"Shit!" Rhea says with gritted teeth.

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. You had it but you just need to practice that's all." Krieg walks behind her keeping his book a float, "Here." he says as he brings his hands up onto her shoulders.

"Krieg what are you-?"

"Just relax, close your eyes Rhea." he leans his head over to see if Rhea has listened and sees that she has, "Okay, clear you mind of everything you were taught and listen to me. Okay, now your mind is clear think about the object on the ground, not the surroundings but the book itself and the book alone. For the sake of this exercise, the book is the only thing that exists in the universe. Do you have that?"

"I think so?" Rhea answers in an unconfident tone.

"No, don't think about Rhea, know you have it." Krieg closes his eyes as well.

"I have it. The book is the only thing I feel." Rhea says with readiness.

"Good. Now reach for the book with you mind, like you would reach for your food with your hand…now at this point you are now the alpha, the controller, the order of this object, and with that it is yours." Krieg waits a few seconds to and then opens he eyes to leans across Rhea's left shoulder to see that the book is now at floating level with Rhea's head and smiles in triumph. "Now, keep calm and open your eyes slowly."

Rhea obeys and her vision slowly is regained to see the book in front of her with no stand and no hand holding it up. She remains calm and remembers what Krieg says and begins to move the book in a figure of eight, increasing the speed in with each sequence. She raises her right hand and guides the book forward with intent of placing it on the other side, on top of a crate. Krieg catches his book from the air and watches Rhea succeed in her goal, the book is placed back in the crate and the sigh of relief and happiness.

She turns and smiles, "That wasn't hard." she says making Krieg laugh.

"Not bad, but it can be great if you just practice. For the past few months you have been here, healing. I know it's boring for you staying here with me, alone, but I do appreciate it." Krieg says sincerely.

Rhea leans on the crate, "Krieg, I spent nearly a year on smuggling ship with you. It's not like I haven't done this before."

"But there were other people. You had Vlax, Ridian…Juna to talk to, while I just worked in my little workshop, playing with my toys." he says putting the book on the side, "I wasn't very talkative back then."

"I know, but that's what made you, you." Rhea states tilting her head, "I used to treat the various people who we smuggled and they used to ask questions about you."

"And what did you tell them?"

Rhea hesitates to speak but does so anyway for the sake of the question, "Well they always asked what you were and I said that you were from a race on the frontier, they never questioned further. Then they asked what you were like and I said you were quiet but polite, and caring, and not afraid to protect those you cared for. I think in my life so far, I haven't found a person I respect more." Rhea gives a weak smile.

Krieg returns with a smile, "Thanks." he leans on his crate and reaches for his pouch to take out a cigar.

Rhea looks at him as he lights it up, "I will say, you smoking those things is a bit, off-putting. Why do you smoke those things?"

Krieg blows some smoke, "Can't I have at least one pleasure, besides your company."

"Well, good thing there is ventilation in this place." she watches the smoke being sucked in the ceiling of the ships systems, "When do you think we'll be able to contact anyone?"

Krieg sighs, "Not yet, but soon." he takes another smoke of his cigar and stands on his feet, "Catch you later Rhea." he says as he heads back towards the front of the ship leaving Rhea alone.

Krieg is heading back to his room where he had left his project, the rebuilt Scythe drone that he has modified. He looks at the rusted machine that is exposed and closes it to get a better look at it not very impressed with the current image in front of him. The grey walks over towards a crate and rummages through before taking out a paint-can and approaches the drone with it, putting on a spray mask over his mouth as he begins to spray the drone with a dark blue color.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Those first three months were slow, until my training started that is." she states to Joker who is leaning back on the couch still.

"So Krieg trained you into what you are now?"

"Mostly, but I have learned new things since then. He taught me to develop my biotics. I will always thank him for that."

"Why weren't your biotics the same as most asari? It seems strange as it's you first line of defence, at least in my eyes?"

"I guess you right. I could never control my biotics as a child. I use to get in trouble for throwing objects a certain people so at school I was pushed into different interests, medicine in my case. By the time I graduated from college I hadn't used my biotics in so long that when I tried to use them it caused more trouble than it was worth. I always regretted that, other asari used to tease me for it. Most of them went on to have careers as commandos for the Republics, I felt so left out." Rhea says with a heavy regret.

"I know how that feels, I'm lucky to be a pilot." Joker says acknowledging his disability, "What was with the Scythe drone, it seems out of place for Krieg?"

Rhea smiles as she thinks back, "Well that tin-can would become an intriguing part of my training, and our time together."…

**08/01/2158- MSV Angel, Somewhere in the Attican Traverse**

It has been a few weeks since Rhea has begun her training mainly in the field of basic biotics and she has proven like Krieg to be a fast learner though not as quick as the grey alien and his unorthodox methods. She is currently sitting on a crate in the middle of the cargo hold cross-legged and her left arm resting on her knee.

In her hand is a copy of some book as she reads with great concentration each word as it is in English and not in her native asari dialect. However despite her one focus there are three other books floating around her each emitting a blue aura and circling her like moons orbiting a planet. Her attire hasn't changed though she wears a jacket to keep her warm made from denim which she found in one of the many crates.

While she continues to read, Krieg is entering the cargo hold pushing a table on wheels and on top is the Scythe drone, painted dark blue and his plates back together, almost like he was never touched by Krieg. He sees Rhea not paying attention and is amazed at the sight of her actually teaching herself.

"Impressive." he says in a happy tone.

Immediately Rhea turns startled and the books fall to the ground,knowing that he spooked her on purpose. She gives him a glare, "Thanks." she says sarcastically but stops when she see the finished product, "What are you doing with this?"

Krieg pushes the table into the centre of the hold next to her, "This thing is going to become useful, it'll help you and me."

Rhea scans the drone curious but not yet impressed, "Well let's see it then, turn it on."

Krieg smiles as he stands back and Rhea does the same with the grey alien taking a remote attached to his belt he presses the single button and triggers movement from the drone. Its three eyes start glowing green instead of blue as it once did. Once the eyes glow indefinitely it begins to make noises as it attempts to hover using it hover devices, now three triangular ones instead of a single round one. The lights begins to appear on the turrets that have replaced the front arms, operational and ready while the turret boxes attached to the back set of arms remain still and lifeless. The drone hovers about five foot in the air and shows off it magnificence before settling about a foot off the table.

"Scanning systems…Date: 2158.01.08...Systems operational."

"Is it okay, it seems quiet?" Rhea whispers to Krieg.

"Just wait a minute." he says smiling and looks into the eyes of the thing.

"Collecting data." it says in the same dull tone, "Artificial Intelligence operational."

Rhea's eyes widen and she shakes Krieg getting his attention, "Its sentient, AI's are illegal and dangerous."

"Stress level: rising in Rhea T'Anya." the machine states in a dead tone.

She looks at the machine surprise, "What did it say?"

"Voice: Duel, boring, no personality." it says saying the last word reluctantly.

"You'll grow into it." Krieg says positively.

"Satisfied!" the machine states.

Rhea turns to Krieg with a raised eyebrow, "You've spent months on a tin-can that can think for itself but speaks like this?"

The drone leans to the right and slowly moves that direction trying to get back to her eye line, "Organic Identify: Asari: Rhea T'Anya. INC: Ready."

"INC?"

"Primary Functions: Intelligence, Networking and Combat." it states.

She turns her back to it, "All three of those functions could bring down organic life as we know it."

"Incorrect. Organic Misconception" it says to itself but causes Krieg to chuckle.

"Yeah, right."

Krieg walks up to Rhea and holds her shoulders for reassurance, "Listen, INC is built from the remains of the Scythe but it isn't anything like one."

"Krieg, I know some of the stuff you do is…out there at times, but this is too much." Rhea removes his hands.

"Servitude equals honour." INC replies however his vocabulary and way of expressing is worse than hanar or elcor.

"Servitude?" Rhea looks at the machine and can't help but think why a thing that is alive would willingly serve.

INC continues, "Confusion detected, Krieg gives intelligence, repay debt."

"So it's loyal?" Rhea looks at Krieg hoping for an answer.

"It can think, analyse, and make decisions. But seeing as I have given INC a sense of living, it feels service is its best use. It has trouble expressing itself however." Krieg replies

Rhea looks at Krieg with more surprise, "You gave it emotion?"

"Of course, most AI don't have emotions, that's what makes them dangerous."

"I don't care, keep it away from me." Rhea says beginning to freak out while she walks away.

Krieg watches her leave and notices that she is upset. He turns to INC and raises his eyebrows, "Well, that's her. Sorry about that."

The machine faces him. "Response: understood." It says with Krieg able to pick it up quickly and decipher it.

Krieg smiles as he leans back on a nearby crate before looking back up to INC, "Why don't you show me the combat programme I installed."

"Of course." it says as turns to an open space and a light begins and its eyes begin to shine. INC remains still while Krieg walks into the open space to see what looks like a pair of muscular legs forming along with a torso, arms and finally a head. The figure is a naked man or holographic muscular system, minus the genitals and materials were similar to shields.

If it were compared to anything it would be the male counterpart to Avina. The figures head moves to the right and looks at Krieg, its blue face showing no emotion. "Construction: human, male, average height and weight. Multiple simulations for combat training."

"Show me?" Krieg asks crossing his arms in the process.

"Simulation: Solder, Infantry, Assault Rifle, present day." the figure stands facing forward and frozen until an assault rifle generates in front of him and holds it in a standby position. "Change Simulation: Thug, Bat: baseball." It then states exchanging the blue man's rifle for a baseball bat.

"How many of these things can you generate at once?" Krieg examines the man once again.

"Maximum: Twelve." it states before closing the programme.

"Good." Krieg says,walking back to the helm of the ship where Rhea went INC following not far behind him.

Another two weeks pass and Rhea is still practicing her biotics. In one month she has made even more progress as she continues to read in her room with several other books encircling her. She turns the page but her concentration on the book is short-lived as she looks over to her desk in the centre of her room as well but the chair is where Rhea sits, about two meters away. She looks at the apple on her desk and focuses herself on that object while keeping the other objects afloat, lifting the apple and pulling it towards her. Spinning with an axis as it lands in the palm of her hand and she takes a bite of it enjoying the taste of her small victory.

Her enjoyment turns sour after the doors open and entering the room in INC, the drone who hovers four foot above the ground. The machine notices the look on Rhea's face that of someone who doesn't trust the thing in front of her but it knows that her reasons are valid enough.

"Progress: detected."

"Don't try and flatter me with that formal tone. I still don't trust you INC." she takes another bite of the apple.

"Krieg: Trust. Rhea: Negative. Rhea: Moody?"

She points at INC, "Yeah, and just because Krieg built you to serve, doesn't-"

"Construction: Complete. Servitude: Voluntarily." it says though no tone in voice can show its frustration.

Rhea smiles, "Have I hit a nerve?"

INC slowly turns, "No nervous system programmed. Asari: Nervous System Detected. Asari: Stuck-up."

Rhea looks in shock, "Stuck-up?"

"Asari: Confused and offended." the machine continues to hover standing his ground so to speak.

"What do you want?" she stands and places the books on the crate stacked on top of each other.

"Answer: Krieg requests presence of stuck-up asari." it says heading out of her room and turning right towards the cockpit.

Rhea pulls an annoyed face as the machine seemed to cope despite the fact that Rhea didn't either trust or like it. She rolls her eyes and shrugs it off as she heads out of her room and looks to her right to see INC controlling the ship via its own methods while on her left is Krieg stacking some of the empty crates on top of each other.

Though he can do this with his own biotics he decides to do this manually as he has stacked four on top of each other. She looks up towards what Krieg is doing but doesn't question it as she knows that it must be for some reason. Krieg turns around and claps his hand a few times getting rid of the dust.

"Okay, I see INC told you to come here?" he asks.

"Yeah." she says crossing her arms.

"Give it a chance Rhea, for a machine, it's being reasonable." he states to her and insulting her.

"Reasonable, I'm not the one who built an AI!" she shouts at him.

Krieg seems to shrug it off quickly, "Whatever. So, how are your biotics now after a month of simple drills?"

"Good, I can control multiple objects at the same time. My pulling and pushing is strong." she replies to him though he isn't as convinced.

Acting like a showman Krieg bows and leads his hands to the boxes, indicating that he wants a display from her. She raises her right hand and faces the palm towards the stacked crates as she begins to focus. Closing her eyes, the boxes begin to glow and she begins to display her powers as the bottom, the first crate and second switch place, the latter switching with the third, and so on as she displays an impressive show of the crates switching places but keeping the tower of them intact.

The tower forms back to its original state and the aura fades her eyes were opens for the latter half of the display. "Satisfied?"

Krieg smiles, "It has taken a month to learn the basics, you can push an object and pull an object, you shouldn't have trouble with another being."

Rhea gives of a doubtful tone, "I don't know Krieg, the target normally moves."

"I guess so, so that why INC is going to help you out. INC!" Krieg shouts towards the cockpit.

The machine hastily arrives into the open area circling the pair of them and then stopping above them, "Present."

"Set standard programme." he orders and between them a blue man forms much to Rhea's shock. "You said you need a moving target. Here you are." he replies.

"But, it's a hologram. It can't be caught with biotics." she debates bringing up a valid point.

INC answers this query, "Target venerability: biotics."

"Go on try it?" Krieg motivates Rhea as the blue man begins to run around the cargo area unaware and not really in INC's control.

As it gets faster Rhea keeps her hand in front of her and tries to target the artificial being, "It's too fast, I can't lock on to him."

Krieg approaches Rhea from behind and covers her eyes like he did at the start of her training. "Relax Rhea, remember what I said."

Rhea stays quiet and focuses while her eyes remain shut. She thinks back to what Krieg has taught her. All those days of training, multitasking and learning how to control the abilities that she so desperately wanted. However she is so pre-focused on other things that she forgets about the target altogether and removes Krieg hands from her face, "I'm not ready yet Krieg."

He pulls a reluctant half-smirk, "INC, close program." His orders are obeyed as he watches her lean on a crate and see the disappointment in her expression. He leans next to her and puts his arm around her. "Don't worry Rhea, we don't all get it right the first time." he says comforting her.

"You do, you seem to get it right every time. You can fight with a gun, with your fists and with nothing at all." she looks down at the floor.

Krieg is aware that he is perceived as being flawless but he doesn't agree by a long shot. "Rhea, when I talked to you for the first time was my elocution perfect? When we on Omega, did I managed to protect you like I said I would? When the turians bored our ship, did I succeed in my goal? The answer is 'no' to all of them. When I spoke for the first time, I could string my words together, on Omega I had to save you because you got captured due to 'me' and when the turians bored us, I was captured."

"Your made up for them didn't you, you saved me, twice and I have never returned the favour." a tear roles down her eye.

He notices the tear and wipes it with his finger, "What I'm trying to say Rhea is that nobody's perfect, no matter how much they succeed or fail." he raises her chin and smiles she returns weak one in return.

She looks into his eyes and feels the tension, "Err, I better get back to my reading." she says.

Krieg retracts his hand in embarrassment using it to lean back on the crate as he watches the asari leave the cargo bay and head back to her room, presumably to catch up on her reading that INC interrupted. He smirks a little as he realizes the stupidity and looks towards the machine, "She'll most likely want to try again later, try to be nice."

The machines hovers down around him, "Understood. Krieg: Doubt." it states analysing the grey alien's facial expression.

"INC, this galaxy fears what it doesn't understand. Not many understand me, apart from Rhea of course." he says looking down embarrassed for himself and treating INC like a person. "That's a piece of information that you won't find in your data banks, so kept it to yourself." Krieg smiles as he pats the drone and follows the asari to her room watching her as she go inside and the door closing behind her. He gives off an expression of awkwardness knowing that the moment they just shared is one of many and he hoped that it wouldn't occur again, for her sake more than his own.

Another six weeks go by andRhea's disappointment in her performance hasn't completely affected her as she does what she was doing, reading books while levitating the others with her mind. By now it is second nature to her but she still hasn't got the concept of an actual moving target.

Her door is open and Krieg's is as well though he is about to leave his room and close the door behind him. He looks at Rhea reading and smiles but decides not to disturb her and just walks to the cockpit, sitting down and taking the controls himself as looks on the monitor at the image outside. They were somewhere is the Attican Traverse though it wasn't indicating where but it could be safely said that they were between systems in a certain cluster. Rhea leans around the corner to see Krieg sitting at the helm and placing his hands on the controls. She approaches him from behind and sits on the chair to his left, holding her knees.

Krieg tilts his head towards her, "Hey, you okay?"

She response by smiling, "Yeah, I'm fine Krieg. You know this training you've gave me? Well, I want thank you for it."

"No problem, Rhea. You seem to be training yourself better than I can teach you." he states looking at the controls.

Rhea gives of a chuckle, "You spoil me Krieg."

Krieg smiles, "What? It's just a compliment."

"One of about thousand you've given, you have never criticized me."

"And, I can't help that you're perfect."

Her chuckling stop as she realizes that the sound of his latest compliment is genuine, "Perfect? I'm…perfect."

Krieg himself realizes the error in his words and turns his head to the right away from Rhea pretending to press some buttons, "Err…Perfectly okay to teach yourself." he says hoping she would fall for it.

Rhea blushes and enjoys Krieg's pathetic display smiling like a girl with a crush. Incidentally, this thought takes her off guard and she stands up, "See you later." Krieg watches her walk out the cockpit and back into her room this time closing the door behind her. He suddenly feels a sense of stupidity as he once again had an awkward moment with her.

INC is in cockpit as well situated on Krieg's right and uses a set of newer tentacles situated where the back pair would have been if it were a scythe drone once more but these were jet black and not silver. It uses them to reach various consoles in front of it as the machine uses the scanners on local planets for any signs of life because despite the escaping the Scythe on the Citadel, the cult still may have outposts in many civilized societies and uncharted worlds.

The screen in front it show the planet Trebin and now shows that they are now within the Antaeus System within the Hades Gamma Cluster and on the southern hemisphere, a small dot begins to flash. "Anomaly detected: Receiving Transmission."

Krieg brings the screen up to his chair and notices it as well, "Any information?"

"Audio file detected." the machine states hacking to the interface, "Location: Unnamed."

"_The thing has attacked the base for the third time in two days and the structure is beginning to fail. I don't know how long we can hold out for! When you get this message, we'll most likely be dead but if you can recover the cargo at all costs!"_

Krieg listens carefully and takes another look on the screen and looks at the planet and decided whether or not to act upon this situation. On one side they would be doing the right thing and helping those who are in need but on the other hand it could be dangerous or a trap set up by the Scythe though that would prove that they were tracking them the whole time they were drifting within this portion of the galaxy. "What's the atmosphere?"

"Answer: Nitrogen/Argon."

Krieg is pondering on his decision and can't decide on the variables before Rhea enters the room and looks at the screen to see the planet, "What are you doing? I heard the Tin-can."

"Detected: Stress Beacon."

"Not you, Krieg?" Rhea says still not used to the machines talking despite the long time together.

"Like INC said, a distress call has been found on the planet Trebin. It's says something attacked them, whomever they are?"

Rhea sits on the chair next to Krieg and looks at him, "Shouldn't we check it out?"

"It could be a trap. Who knows what's down there?"

"Affirmative: Resources: Waste." INC says in its blunt voice.

"You don't know that, there could be people still down there for all we know!" Rhea argues of the other side of Krieg. "Do we have some suits in the hold?"

Krieg turns his head, "Your mother got you a suit before you went but I have nothing."

Rhea shrugs and raises her eyebrows, "Well, let me go?" she volunteers to explore the world for herself.

"No." Krieg answers within mille-seconds of hearing her proposal.

"Why not?" Rhea wonders and feeling offended by Krieg's reluctance.

Krieg sighs and brings an outline of the area, "It isn't safe, you don't know what's down there?"

"Then let me find out?" Rhea stands and puts her hand on his shoulder, "Please."

Krieg looks and knows that Rhea should be able to handle herself, "Okay, but INC goes with you."

Rhea looks at the far side of the cockpit and sighs not liking their metal companion, "Fine. I get my suit." She says with excitement and heading back to her room.

Krieg turns to INC, "Can you keep an eye on her? Make sure she's safe, I'll be in communicating at all times"

"Affirmative: Concern Justified." INC agrees being more than just a tin-can.

Krieg nods and smiles, "Thanks, go wait in the cargo bay until Rhea prepares. I'm going to find somewhere to land the ship."

"Affirmative." the machine replies and leads itself away to the back of the ship.

Krieg sits back in his chair and begins to doubt whether the decision he has just made is worth Rhea's safety. Like her and INC he doesn't know the danger of what is down their but also doesn't know whether it is dangerous at all.


	15. Holes in the Ground

**Chapter XV: Holes in the Ground**

**03/02/2158- Korlus, Imir System, Eagle Nebula**

While Krieg and Rhea scout the galaxy in hopes that no one will find them the group who are after the grey alien and his asari accomplice are situated within the Eagle Nebula on the planet Korlus. The planet is known for being the galaxy's personal scrapyard as the thousands upon thousands of used ships cover this part of the surface from every race in existence today. The planet's reputation wasn't great as it was known for being a dump rather than anything else. The planet also had a population but not what you would call life, but a mass of death and this part of the surface was covered with nothing but scrap and corpses of those who took a wrong turn.

The most recent was a krogan with his head exposed and wasn't wearing a helmet. The wound in his crest is still raw and blood drips down the side of the face thanks to the gravity. The corpse is approached by the Scythe drones, the reaper-shaped abominations the pair encountered on the Citadel. The pair encircles each other and around the krogan in order to position themselves and extend their tentacles and scoop the corpse to take it to their location on this planet which is only but a few hundred meters through what was known as Forgotten Valley, due to its reputation of those entering it never coming back. The pair's eyes light up and the hole beneath them open and they drop the krogan below, where it goes to parts unknown.

Krinal is within this sanctum sitting on a throne of its own creation and it seem that its lair which was built into Korlus' giant scrapyard, perfect for a machine to hide. The room it sits within is a dome with windows above emitting limited light and they were separated by the other major interior design. From the centre of the ceiling are the beginnings of the support structure for this room as sprouting from it are six tubes like columns, each the same distance apart with reaching the floor. Krinal's chair is able to rotate as behind it is the door that would lead to the rest of his sanctum while in front of it are about a dozen holographic screens with channels upon them.

The synthetic keeping track of the latest news and similar to what the Illusive man does only as a machine it can do it on a much greater scale. It remains wearing its cloak though it can be assumed that underneath there is nothing but parts to a machine and the only exposed parts are his clawed hand, two fingers and an opposable thumb and his feet which were similar in their talon-like structure. He makes a noise each time the sharp index finger hits the rest of his chair which the only part of his body that moves and the only sound to break the silence.

The machine continues to watch as Delphine, his newest recruit enters the throne room of this scrap overlord. She was wearing armour that was the same as any other light armor worn by soldiers or mercenaries but the shining silver plates and the black underlay showed that it was of Scythe design or at least Krinal's anyway. She had a pistol on her hip and blue lights were situated around the neck, shoulder pads and hips.

"Trillions of life forms wander this galaxy, wander for the sole purpose of bettering themselves while working together in harmony…if that were only so." remarks the machine in its organic sounding voice as it shuts its consoles off and turns to see the asari, "In the end they meet the same fate."

Delphine doesn't know the reference nor does she care, "We caught a few more Bloodpack scouting our turf, we've brought the bodies back as you asked."

"Are any of them alive?" it asks with anticipation.

"One is, but he seems restless, won't stop moving."

The machine stands up at his impressive five foot tall stature, "Then we must see him." It states while leading the asari out of his chambers and into the elevator, the only entrance into the throne room. The elevator head downwards, meaning that the throne rooms was at the top of this secret base and while it moves Krinal continues to speak, "We've had orders from the Alpha-Duchess, she would like to meet you at some stage."

"Why?"

"Because you're an asari. Remember this society has its meaningless traditions as well."

"I don't get this. Why did you have Vetos as member if this is an asari group?" she asks bringing up a valid question.

"Unlike the seven Grand Duchesses that lead the Scythe, I have permission to do as I wish." it states showing that he was exempt from authority.

She raises an eyebrow, "So how many none-asari operatives do you have?"

The sound of the elevator doors open before a single work, "Enough." Is spoken and Krinal exits the small space into a bigger one.

The room they had entered looked like a prison with rows of cells stacked on top of each other and Scythe Drones hovering and patrolling them. The place was full of aliens of every origin and too many to count. Each one was in a separate cell and were either starving or near death. Krinal as a synthetic didn't feel the pain but neither did Delphine who was glad to be on the other side of the bars. After walking down the hallway of many cells the two enter a room at the end and it an interrogation camber, a chair standing in the middle with various devices to hold a person in.

On the chair was a naked krogan with orange eyes and crest that was dark blue leading to black in the middle. With a sheet covering his torso and upper legs the only prominent feature on his face was his left side which seemed to carry some sort of skin condition, being pale, cracked and almost dead tissue which perhaps was a skin disorder but spread onto parts of his crest too. Around him were Scythe drones that were adamant on using their tentacle ends to shock him though they only had half the effect it would on any other alien.

Krinal hold its hand up and the two drones retract their arms and hover away and a tray lowers down from the black ceiling to reveal all of Krinal's 'medical' equipment. "Well, well, the Bloodpack have been busy of late haven't they?" it says walking around the krogan.

"Fuck you, let me out of here!" the krogan demands.

Krinal stops by his tray, "You know many demand that when they are caught. But what is the likelihood of me actually doing that?"

"When it becomes likely that I'll kill you if you don't."

"Don't be hasty, master Krogan. Your race was impressive in the Rebellions all those years ago. I was there you know, I watched as you destroyed yourselves…because you can. In the end, isn't that what the Krogan are good at doing? Destroying themselves." This seems to confuse the krogan, "These days, krogans are declining but there are still many of you. However you are most valuable at this time."

"Yeah and why is that?"

"Because you're alive. Your friends were not so lucky I'm afraid but you may have another chance at life if you answer a few simple questions."

The krogan knows that the situation he was in wasn't good but saw opportunity, "What's it worth?"

"I give you everything back, plus a chance at a better quality of life." Krinal offers getting a nod within seconds. "Good, now my first question concerns the Bloodpack that are currently trying to regain their power back on Omega. Who is in charge of them?"

"No one, after Grav was killed they seem to be fighting amongst themselves. Garm and Kuresh are arguing about who gets it. While we haven't made a move, someone has already taken over the local Eclipse band and has begun taking some of our districts, or at least the ones that Aria didn't want." it confesses naming two krogan that would end up meeting Shepard years later.

"Why ask him questions about Omega?" Delphine wanders.

Krinal's heads turns to face her, "Since Krieg and Rhea arrived on Omega three years ago, Aria has regained more territory on the station. Krieg caused both Eclipse and the Bloodpack to weaken in one swoop. This veteran's knowledge of the Bloodpack can prove useful to me."

"So what, I'm working for you now?" the Krogan asks still angry but calm at the same time.

"Precisely, what clan are you from?" Krinal asks hoping for an origin.

Krogan gets close to the cold machines head, "I am Yox of clan Gatatog."

"I see. Well, Yox of clan Galatog, welcome to the best job you'll ever have." Krinal says as it signals the drones to give the krogan a set of armour like Delphine's to him only Krogan in design and had a strange resemblance to Grunt's future armour though not as filled out and advanced. While the krogan gets his armour on Krinal walks to Rhea, "Omega has no real opportunity, and most mercenary bands are situated there because there is no rule apart from Aria, who isn't much."

"So you want him to kill her?" Delphines wanders thinking its logical.

Krinal shakes its head within seconds, "No! Aria is a necessary evil I'm afraid. The mission I am going to send you on is a clean-up. I will send my favourite creation to back you up, wipe out every Bloodpack member who doesn't surrender, bring the rest here."

"There must be dozens of them here, including twice as many vorcha?"

Krinal gives a sigh causing steam to depart from the gaps of its 'jaw', "The vorcha are not of interest to me, I have enough of those already. I want the krogan."

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker continues sitting opposite Rhea on the horseshoe couch that acts as the centre of her safe haven from the outside influences. Rhea leans back on her couch and lights a cigarette with the smoke drifting its way upwards while Joker takes a sip from a small glass of water.

He has listened to how Krieg returned in to her life despite her initially thinking he was dead. Not only that but the knowledge of a Reaper Cult but from what she has said that only asari were allowed to become real members and that Vetos was just a mere agent. He leans back with a face of confusion as he officially knows that the Reapers first appeared as threat two years ago but does considers the possibilities of it being true with his experience with the Collectors being a reason to at least consider Rhea's words.

Rhea lets out some smoke, "Krinal was one odd bastard, he was a collector of species."

"So the Scythe was an asari cult? Then why did they have Vetos, and you said that they had operatives in all important places, no matter what race?" Joker points out acutely.

Rhea takes in some and breathes it out straight afterwards, "It did thanks to Krinal. When it joined, it knew that times were changing. Krinal would normally hire them through third parties but made few exceptions when it came to important allies, Vetos being one of them. He like Krinal didn't care for the Scythe in the true sense, just power."

Joker doesn't understand what is meant by Rhea's words, "And what's a Grand-Duchess then? Presumably it was a person in charge?"

"The 'true' Scythe was led by seven Asari Matriarchs, normally a legacy that had descended from their original founders. These seven lead the Scythe and would lead the asari disciples of the Scythe. They were the asari equivalent to what Cerberus is now, only a lot older and more secretive." She informs revealing parallels between the two groups.

"What about Krinal?"

She shakes her head, "No, they had no control of Krinal's exploits. It was too valuable an ally you see and it has progressed the Scythe to levels that were unmatched since their beginnings."

"So it wasn't originally a Scythe? When did it join?" Joker asks taking a sip of water.

"Not long after the Krogan Rebellions, that was when the Scythe grew in power. The Duchesses were deep in asari politics back then and from what I found out in recent years; it was them who pushed for the Genophage to occur." She again reveals more than is known.

"No, that isn't possible. It was turians and the salarians that would cause that."

"In physical form, yes. But if the asari hadn't of pushed for such a measure to be taken, the Krogan would be the most populace race by now. The Scythe believed that destroying the Krogan was one step to their dominance in the galaxy. Things changed for them however, the Seven Duchesses were leaders of the Scythe but they followed orders from a higher power."

"The Reapers?"

"Yeah, my resources of their origins are vague and I can only hypothesize. But I know that they sent Krinal to monitor the Scythe and make sure it was lead down the path they desired. That 'thing' would change the Scythe from a strong political force into a secretive organization."

Joker stands up and stretches for a second, "I'm surprised that they would put up with it. Why would an asari cult really listen to Krinal?"

"Neither did I, but Krinal did many things for them that they were eternally grateful for." She takes another smoke of her cigarette, "Krinal was the one who designed the Scythe Drones, and they were built them as means of assistance so that Duchesses wouldn't have to send too many of their Disciples on missions. Not only that, Krinal was the one who designed many of their hidden bases and equipment. This was in exchange for hiring members of other races, they didn't like but saw opportunity in it."

"So it knew how to manipulate organics, sounds like a Reaper through and through." Joker comments.

"Yeah, Krinal's 'Acolytes' were high in many governments, the Union and Hierarchy in particular and they had agents in organizations like C-Sec."

"And you weren't worried that Krinal could have used these resources to find you?"

"It never occurred to me at the time. I had my own problems, Krieg was seriously bugging me. He was worried when I persuaded him to land the ship so I could explore the surface."…

**04/02/2158- Trebin, Anateus System, Hades Gamma Cluster**

The planet had no life to speak of apart from the rocks that gave the world its boring yellow exterior and a few mountain ranges spreading across the open plains. The planet's sun doesn't breathe through the clouds of grey and makes it feel like a stormy day however there is no lightening to prove as such. The open plain spreads many miles but ends at a small mountain range and not far from the top is a facility. It is Krogan in design, made from grey metal and looked more like a fortress than a research facility of some kind. It was built into the mountains and had two spires sprouting from it acting as watchtowers and a platform extended near the top of the structure built for ships of certain design to land on it.

This was lucky for the Kowloon class of human vessel that Krieg and Rhea were travelling in named the MSV Angel. The square and simple blueprints proved useful as Krieg manages to land the ship on the platform itself making it easier to reach where the asari intended to go. Rhea is clad in her armour, which is light Explorer armour in white and blue and on her left hip is her pistol. She has her helmet on as the atmosphere isn't breathable for her lungs. Rhea wonders out of the back of the ship and following her is INC hovering not far from her side but turns constantly keeping vigil. Krieg sits in the cockpit as he has no full amour to use but keeps the channel with Rhea open.

Rhea sees an opening in front of the building and walks along the bridge between both the building and the platform towards it. She watches her step each time with caution but there is not a sound to be heard or a sight to be found. Both she and INC reach the door and see a small panel on the side and she presses the open button so she can enter the facility.

Upon entering the first thing she sees is a foyer and straight in front is a long hallway with an elevator shaft at the end, open and exposed to the inner workings. She looks at the foyer and sees that there are a few armoury lockers on both sides of the room meant for quick arming encase the place was attacked. The lights are flickering on an off so INC supports the absence by lighting its eyes in a yellow to get a better sense of colour despite it being only a dull grey with krogan symbols upon the walls and objects.

"What do you think Rhea?" asks Krieg via the communicator in her helmet.

Rhea takes a good look before answering, "Well, it's a Krogan facility. The foyer alone has weapons on hand for a possible attack. Who knows what heavy guns this place has." she turns towards the long hallway, "This looks like this is the top floor, there must be more below?"

"I see it through INC's eyes. Be careful if you open those doors."

"Krieg, I'll be fine." she says embarrassed with no one watching. She walks up to the first door on the right and enters to see nothing special as all doors lead to the same room. The room was a small communications hub or watch post as there was nothing but chairs to sit on and the solid parts of console in front of it. The machinery was primitive compared to the Citadel though anything would do for the krogan, being warmongers rather than scientists. Rhea picks up a clipboard and reads what is on it, "Krieg, this isn't written in any krogan language. It's a dialect of the salarians."

"Salarians, in a krogan base?"

"The design might have been a cover." she guesses as she turns around to see INC wondering out of the opposite room, "I think this place wasn't meant to be found."

"Possibility: Scare tactic." shouts INC its first words since leaving.

"Scare tactic? What is so scary about this building?" Rhea asks the machine.

"Processing...: Watchtowers: East, West: Armed: Homing projectiles."

The sound of Krieg voice enters her helmet again, "He's right, Rhea. Both watchtowers are armed with homing missiles with ranges covering the planet. Only Krogan would use weapons like that for their first line of defence."

She turns to INC, "Hey, how many times have they been used?"

"Scanning...: Three targets found within a hundred mile radius. Identifying...: Eclipse Freighter, Batarian Pirate Vessel, Spectre-Class Fighter."

"If its krogan design they must of at least had a presence, the Council wouldn't be so bold in destroying any of these targets." Krieg states.

She takes a look around before answering, "True enough, I'd like to head down the elevator."

"Rhea, I don't thi-"

"Krieg, think of it as a training exercise…exploration." she says in frustration still annoyed with Krieg's worried tone.

There is a pause before he speaks, "Okay, lead the way." and in response INC prepares itself to be led by the asari.

Rhea smiles underneath her helmet in triumph though she is reluctant at first to head down the hallway but does so anyway. The doors were open already so both Rhea and Krieg though the eyes of INC can see as the machine hovers over the space it looks towards the bottom and the light from its eyes. It shows a deep bottomless pit of which no mortal would survive the fall. While Krieg worries through INC's eyes, Rhea is looking for another possible root down and looks towards the side of the shaft to the door on the left and opens it to reveal a stairwell heading both up and down. Presumably the upper way would lead to the watchtowers above them and the other down to where the elevator lies.

"Hey, tin-can!" Rhea says referring to INC, "Come on." and leads it down the flight of countless steps. Rhea begins to speak to break the sound of footsteps, "Hey Krieg?"

"Yeah." is what she hears in response.

"Do you ever wonder about where you came from?" she asks boldly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I was just thinking back to when we were talking that time when I would say that you were an alien from there and there. I just wandered if you knew anything about your own world?" she waits for a few seconds, concerned, "Krieg?"

"I'm here. I've never really thought about Rhea, having to adapt to this galaxy the past three years has made me forget about it."

"Aren't you a little bit curious?" she looks as INC scouts down before her.

"At times, though I fear that what I find out won't be pleasant. I have no memories of that life Rhea, except my dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Oh, I never told you." A reluctant sigh can be heard coming from the other end, "Since I been awake I've had dreams of odd things, out of place."

"What sort of things?" Rhea catches up with INC.

"Originally it was that of me floating in space and a giant monster, but I don't have many drams anymore for some reason. They have seem to have gotten less in frequency. It was these dreams that made me so distant during our time on Vlax's ship."

Rhea's expression is that of pity, "You could have talked to me about it?"

"I didn't think it was worth your time, you had your own things going."

"Krieg, I'm your friend and you can tell me anything, if wanted to." she says with warm smile. "Anyway let's get down these steps." She finishes and continues her way down with INC.

Back on the scrap plains of Korlus the Bloodpack of this planet were conjugating in what looked like a fortress built from the various scrap that had been collected over the past hundreds of years. The wall was of great durability and thickness and was a sign that a lot of time and effort had been put into it.

Past the wall were the group's transports off the planet. they only half the size of the Normandy but were built with defence in mind and not speed as the chunky design and the various cannons that were built onto it. There were about half a dozen of these ships within the courtyard of the fortress which also acted as the living quarters of the lesser krogan members of the Bloodpack, while the vorcha members slept on outside.

These beasts were either hitting each other or being forced to carry goods onto the various ships by their krogan masters who all wear red and black armour with the insignia on their shoulders. The vorcha outnumbered the krogan ten to one but this didn't matter to their leader who sat in his office with a window open to the rest of the courtyard.

Inside the krogan made their homes though it wasn't that much different from their world but like Tuchanka they adopted the tradition of being well armed. This krogan wore silver armour with black under-laying and his crest was black and his eyes a red colour. Another krogan wearing a helmet walks up to the leader.

"Boss, we've lost the team in the Forgotten Valley. This is third team since the beginning of the year." the krogan says.

The leader sighs in frustration, "Did you find them?"

"No."

He gets up and slams the desk, "Then they are not dead!" he turns a faces the courtyard outside, "Something is out there, playing with us, taking our men. Lucky that vorcha breed the way they do otherwise we wouldn't have an army."

"What is your order boss? Boss?"

The masked krogan watches his leader turn around and reveals a Scythe drone attached to its face. This was a variant compared to the Drone that Krieg encountered on the Citadel as this was smaller, about the size of the krogan's head. It had ten long legs with two joints on each instead of four tentacles which makes it bigger than it is.

The krogan lackey pulls its rifle from its back but it's too late as the spider-scythe has leaped from the leader to bloodpack grunt. It gives him an electric shock during impact with its helmet. It stays on its face until it falls to the ground and then jumps off and waits as it kin crawl through the window and they begin their campaign out of the office and down the hallway. Both krogan on the ground are not dead but unconscious.

As the sound of gunshots can be heard coming from the inside the vorcha prepare themselves for battle and run in a barbaric fashion towards the fortress. The first few are caught off guard as crawling out of the surface of scrap below their feet are spiders as well and begin their assault, using their legs to clamp the beasts down and holding them for period while the others run in the direction they came from. As they head towards the gates of the courtyard they are again caught off guard as an explosion occurs and the vorcha are either burned, hurled back or knocked over by the debris.

Walking out of the smoke are both Rhea and Yox fully armoured and wearing helmets as the weapons they were carrying were similar to firestorms in nature but the model was of Krinal's design as Delphine shot fireballs the size of her head. Yox was using the standard function, firing everywhere in a flamethrower fashion and catching as many vorcha as possible before a wall of fire blocks their path. Only the sounds of vorcha dying can be heard coming from the back of it.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be?" comments Yox who switches his gun off.

Delphines smiles, "I didn't think you'd be so happy in betraying them."

"They pay me shit for hard work. I know opportunity when I see it." Yox says as vorcha run towards him in flames. He knocks it over and stamps on its head, neutralizing it.

She looks around at the ships and sees opportunity in the fortress itself, "These ships could be handy. What operation did you have going here?"

Yox leans on a nearby door an watches the spider drones continue their work, "A few years ago, we had client moving narcotics into asari space. This was one of the plants that manufactured them, we would get the vorcha to mix it and then ship it off with a courier."

"That's pretty risky." Delphine remarks.

"It was, so risky that a justicar destroyed the main base of operations and we were back to square one. Besides, this stuff isn't good anymore." Yox states with a hint of sorrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Word is that the humans have manufactured a new drug and branded it as Red Sand."

"Why would you care?"

"This human drug isn't a simple narcotic that like Lucky Lime is, this Red Sand gives the user temporary Biotic Ability." he stands straight and heads towards the flames, "The business is dead."

"So you were just sitting ducks anyway." Delphine replies realizing that their business wasn't working anymore.

"We haven't made a profit this year. A lot of us didn't like it." Yox says, "So why does this Krinal need my old work-buddies?"

"I don't know, I guess for one of his experiments." she looks at the krogan to see no emotion, "You not sad that you friends are going to die?"

"I'm seven hundred and sixty-two years old and I'm a krogan. We don't have friends, only those that trying to kill us or betray us." he states.

Delphine understands being alone and sympathizes with him as he walks through the flames and they see the corpses of the vorcha lying across the ground. The spider drones from the fortress are exiting the main door and in pairs they drag the bodies of the Bloodpack krogan, alive but either paralyzed or unconscious. There are about thirty of them all lined up and ready for harvesting.

Delphine turns towards the door, "Come on, mommy!" she shouts.

She is serious with that statement as walking through the dust and smoke from the door that had been removed via explosion a few minutes ago is a Spider Scythe of gigantic proportion. The body plating along was twenty-five foot in length and fifteen in width, shining silver and instead of three eyes like most drones had as the size allowed it to have four eyes in the shape of a diamond times three and in the same formation as an average scythe drone. It also had an additional piece of engineering on the rear end. It was an egg shaped cage with thick bars giving an impression that it is a rib-cage though she dragged it across the floor meaning that this wasn't a part of its original anatomy, only for the sake of its current task.

The ten legs of this beast make the machine look even bigger as the front pair and the left of the second pair grab the sides of the gateway and pull its body in, the other seven on the ground. The ends of the legs were razor shape and therefore its weapon of choice shown by it using its front right leg to stab a crawling vorcha, twisting it to take last of the beast's life. The machine turns to face them and its sack opens for its children to store the krogan in. This was but a method of how Krinal collected bodies and this giant ten-legged creature was his favourite creation.

Back on Trebin both Rhea and INC are reaching the end of the long stairwell that had taken them down about thirty floors beneath the original position above ground on the platform. This meant that they were deep inside the mountain and possibly beneath it as they enter out of the stairwell and into the main function of the facility. The directions were T-shaped, one heading straight forward and the other two head left and right and each hallway was visible by a narrow white light joining the junction and all the way down towards the end of the hallway.

Each path had doors to other places though were unrevealed at this present moment but Rhea was occupied on something else. In the corner of her eye is a flickering of light and she turns her head to see that end of the corridor on her left is pitch black obviously due to a power shortage in that area. Her curiosity kicks in and she heads down there first and INC immediately turns to face her.

"Rhea, where are you going?" Krieg asks.

Rhea sighs and grits her teeth, "I'm going down this way."

"It doesn't look safe Rhea, maybe you should-"

"RIGHT! THAT'S IT!" she shouts as she turns toward INC so that Krieg can see her, "Shut the fuck up. Krieg, you're acting like my mom!"

"I'm just concerned-"

"For what? It's your fault you don't have suit okay, not mine! So get off my back!" she says turning around and walking down the hallway she intended to go.

Before she can enter the shadow she takes a small detour and heads to the door on her right and opens it without any real caution because her frustration of Krieg has gotten to her. The doors slide open an is about to step forward when she realizes that the end of the room was right in front of her and the room was replaced by a thirty foot drop. Rhea's shock initially causes her to lose her balance before the sound of her squeal causes INC to race in front of her and push itself toward her body and knocking her on her back into the hallway, and saving her as well.

"See, that's why I'm cautious!" says Krieg with smart mouth.

"Shut up, there could have been anything in there." she states.

"Well there wasn't, now I suggest that you get back to ship, where it's safe."

"Krieg's statement: Logical." comes from INC

"You can shut up as well. I'm sick of you smart-mouthing me." She says to INC, "What am I saying?" she asks herself realizing that she is talking to a machine.

INC itself has turned around and taken a glance down the hole, "Scanning: Lifeform detected in vicinity."

The asari looks at the machine, "What? A survivor?"

A silence is heard before continuing, "Lifeform detected: subterranean species."

Rhea thinks to herself for a second before drawing to the identification, "Thresher Maw?"

When those words pour out of her mouth she feels the hallway shaking like there was an earthquake about to occur but she knew that something was heading their way. She gets up and looks at the shadows at the end of the hall to see ghoulish features and the sound of pincers crawling into the hallway. This section had been completely attacked by the maw and it most likely would have fed on those who tried to kill it. Rhea draws her pistol and fires a few shots towards the beast and this only makes its hunger more than it is already as it tries to fit its head through the hallway.

Rhea and INC are both about to run when one of the Maw's tentacles enters through the exposed door and grabs Rhea by the ankle and shakes her around hitting her against the wall. Her armour protects her but not from the tentacle that is moving towards the mouth of the Maw. INC acts upon this and using its own intelligence fires from its turrets a shot of red ammo and it drops Rhea on her front, giving her enough time to dive forward out of the Maw's push forward. She fires at the pincers hoping that will confuse it and gets to her feet and begins to sprint down the hallway to the elevator shaft. She sees that the lift is working on this level and enters with INC pressing for the top floor and she sighs, knowing that the Maw would give up.

She sighs in relief as the elevator moves upward and at haste, "That was a close one." she says laughing a little.

"This isn't funny Rhea, get back to the ship!" Krieg demands on the other end.

"Okay, Okay!" she manages to say before the elevator jolts and she falls to the ground.

"Rhea? What was that?" Krieg asks.

"The elevator's jammed!" she states before it goes pitch black, "And the powers out!" she finishes. She is scared though the light from INC's eyes is comforting while she scans and feels the room for weaknesses.

Rhea's worries are just beginning but Delphine has none she knows of as she and Yox have just entered a secret elevator within the ruins of an old ship, part of the Forgotten Valley. They watch the doors close and the smell of dirty air leave her nostrils and she heads back down to Krinal's sanctum's lower levels. She has her arms crossed and is impatient while her new partner in crime Yox is leaning on the side of the small moving room carefree as he is happy with his new occupation underneath Krinal.

A few seconds later and they enter what is known to her as the Seven-Ways-Web, a huge heptagon-shaped room that is bright at the top but seems to get darker the further down it goes. Near the top is a balcony that is in the shape of a web with seven directions with one being the elevator and the other certain parts of Krinal's underground home.

Towards the bottom nothing can be seen except the ends of the web that is home to the mother spider that Krinal built. The webbing is made of a strange glue-based substance and was a dark blue in colour. The eyes of the mother can be seen from where Rhea and Yox were unmoved and fearless while it hangs around the krogan she collected earlier, hanging from the webs and covered in a similar blue stubstance.

"It likes to keep those its young collects." says Krinal walking on the railings of the balcony its talon feet clenching it in place, "I remember when I built it, all those years ago. She is my beautiful daughter."

Yox and Delphine are creeping out with this statement but learn to just go along with it, "How long are you going to keep them down there?" she asks referring to the Bloodpack krogan.

"A few days, that webbing she wraps them in will paralyse them indefinitely until I order her to give off a reverse toxin." Krinal crouches and looks at the cold eyes in the fading darkness, "The dawn is is coming my Acolytes."

Yox looks at Krinal with suspicion, "Dawn? Dawn of what?"

Krinal jumps of the balcony, "The dawn of a new age. The times are about to change and your existence will be minuet compared to those infinitely greater and more powerful. These krogan have a part to play, I guarantee it." it states while walking towards the elevator door on the far side of the room. It turns before entering, "I will send for those ships to be brought back here, I think I may find a use for them." and enters the elevator.

Delphine shudders a little when the doors shut and Yox notices, "That thing give you the creeps, doesn't it?"

She smiles and nods, "You got that right. It's good to me but I can't help but keep thinking it's up to something, all the time."

"You're probably right." Yox looks at the eyes of the giant spider beneath and smiles, "You hear how he called it 'its daughter'. Must be a robot thing."

She laughs, "Well I hope you stick around. They're aren't many people here beside myself."

"I don't think that I have much of a choice." Yox replies, "Mind you, that synthetic bastard might have trouble coming it's way when he finds some of Bloodpack come looking."

"I think Krinal finds the thought relishing, I've never seen Krinal express fear, well the only time was-" she remembers when she was afraid and saw Krieg return on the Citadel convinced that he had died, "No, actually I haven't."

Yox looks around the big empty room, "So, do you have some sort of place to eat?"

She looks at the Krogan, "Sure, follow me." she leads him towards the elevator which has returned to this floor.

Yox steps in after her and leans against the wall, something he was used to doing, "So, how long have you been taking orders from the creep?"

She leans on the opposite side, "Not long, a few months. Don't worry, the work gets you a lot for the effort."

"Yeah, you get to live in this shithole, literally." he jokes to her before speaking again, "I mean do you get to see any action?"

"Well Krinal has a whole combat-sim set up."

Yox smirks and laughs, "That's not the same though, is it?"

"I guess not, what were you hoping for?"

"Well, guns, drink and hopefully some sex as well." he answers boldly.

"Well don't look at me. I have certain taste, and it's not for krogan." she says not revealing what has become of her as of late.

"I bet you couldn't take on my junk anyway." he wittily replies.

She smiles at his crude behavior, "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find someone to give you a quick hand job every few days." she says walking out of the elevator and him following as they enter what looks like another hallway only this one was more homely and resembles a floor of a hotel as there were doors on both sides. She walks down to the last door on the left and opens the door. It slides and reveals Yox's quarters. Krinal took care of those under him and Yox looks at his new home impressed.

The room has silver floors and walls and was split down the middle into two parts. The first was in front of him and was meant to resemble more of an apartment lounge with a couch, coffee table and a screen built into the wall with a weapons and armour locker for his new equipment provided by Krinal.

The other half was his sleeping quarters and was separated by a wall with a hole in it so it was visible as the krogan-sized bed covered a majority of the space but the alien's wardrobe was built into the wall to give him more space to walk. Yox also notices that he has his own en-suite bathroom with all the appliances.

"Cosy." he remarks sitting on the bed and feeling softness, "This bed isn't hard enough though."

Delphine looks at the wardrobe and sees that Krinal has given him some krogan attire, "Everything you want is in here. Do what you want with it."

"And you have a place like this as well?" Yox asks her.

She nods in answering, "Yeah, mine and about another dozen of us living here."

"Who else lives here?"

"Well, you're the only krogan here, there's a salarian and the rest are asari."

"Really, this place is full of asari?" he remarks showing that he has a taste for them.

Delphine raises and eyebrow "Don't get your hopes up about these either. I should tell you that the Scythe is a an Asari Supremacist group and doesn't like Krinal's choice of employee." she sees the krogan's expression changed from comfortable to cautious, "Don't worry, if you're one of Krinal's Acolytes like me, then they won't touch you." she says exiting the room and leaving Yox alone to get used to his new home.

Rhea is very uncomfortable however. She and INC are still looking for a way out of the elevator they were stuck in. The blue light glowing form INC's eyes is the only form of light as the Thresher Maw that had burrowed into the facility had destroyed the power and caused the elevator to jam in the middle of the shaft. The Maw itself had made progress since it had been trapped as it was, causing struggling sounds below their current position. It was making both Rhea and Krieg anxious shown by the latter through the tone of his voice.

"Rhea, you need to get out of here try and open the doors." says Krieg from the ship.

"And risk something happening, no. This doesn't even make sense, from what I know about Thresher Maws they don't nest in mountains. INC have you hacked into the power yet?" asks Rhea looking at the machine.

"Progression: 92% complete." it answers.

"Maybe the Maw is a juvenile?" Krieg suggests, "Rhea?"

Rhea hears a sound coming from below her feet as she looks down and sees a greenish mark forming next to her feet. The florescent green colour expands as Rhea leans against the wall and watches in worry as the green liquid melts the floor of the elevator. The cause of this scene is by the Maw itself who has made its way into the elevator shaft being about fifty feet below Rhea and struggling towards the top due to the shaft not being made of earth. Rhea has managed to stand on a small space unaffected by the Maw's acid and keeps her body firm while INC dodges a second attempt to spit at them. The machine moves out of the way and the result is the acid hits the ceiling and causes the same effect. As this was a magnetic elevator it wasn't hanging by a cord and left Rhea stuck and INC in the line of fire and with the limited amount of light it makes things very difficult.

"Progress: Complete." INC states as the power comes back on and the jolt of the elevator moving upwards cause Rhea to lose balance. When she is about to fall INC scoops her from underneath and accelerates up so that Rhea's feet that were still on the elevator and are in line with what was the floor.

"Thanks." she says as a sigh of relief comes from her and the sight of the Thresher Maw was fading as they get to the top. A few seconds and they have reached their original floor they came from and INC allows Rhea to crawl on top of it and it springs her onto the floor with INC following.

She sighs once again and sits on the side of the hallway and takes a few breaths before listening to Krieg, "Rhea, Are you okay?"

"Fine, INC saved me. The Maw looks stuck in the shaft." she says when INC releases control of the system and power goes out causing the elevator to fall down the shaft and the sound of it making contact with the Maw can be heard, "Well, now its stuck."

Krieg's voice is that of stress but he is having trouble getting the words out, "Get…back here…I…need…your…help."

Her face turns to concern, "What's wrong? Krieg? Krieg?" she looks at the light and sees that the ship isn't far and sprints along with INC towards the entrance.

Her struggle isn't finished however as she is knocked down by a tentacle that has sprouted from one of the doors that lead from the communications room via a vent that the juvenile could wriggle through. The tentacle continues its assault hitting Rhea twice when she is down but she draws her pistol and shoots it. This time more successful and with the addition of INC's turret fire and it falls to the ground numb and lifeless.

This is a sacrifice that hasn't been in vain for the Thresher Maw because despite the remains of the elevator falling on it, it has still managed to climb its head up to the floor it is intended to reach. Its head is small enough to poke through but Rhea has already took cover in the com-room, holding her pistol and has a face that shows anger while INC is within the rooms on the other side.

A plan has not been formulated but both the machine and asari want this creature destroyed and it starts with INC firing from its turret aiming at the Maw's head where its sensory organs are. This disorientates the Maw while Rhea makes her way down the com-room closer to the mouth of the beast. While INC out-moves the acid-spitting, the Maw's tentacle comes back to life and attacks.

Rhea pulls out a set of grenades that she took when she landed and throws them all from her position of the closet door of the com-room into the elevator shaft and presses the detonators. The both of them don't have the time to watch the Maw scream and fall back down the shaft and the sight of a the explosion with it as they both exit the building and back into the ship. Rhea frantically runs towards the front of the ship where in the cockpit and finds Krieg lying on the floor unconscious as she cradles him and begins examination his condition hoping that he wakes up.

When Krieg wakes up he looks at the ceiling to find it wasn't the same view as it was before he closed his eyes. Looking up he sees that the ceiling is that of the centre of another room and not cockpit's. The room even felt and smelt different as the air was fresh and clear and had a decent temperature, cold but not too cold. He lay on a slab in the centre of what looked like Rhea's room.

There is a monitor on the table beside him which was human in design and from it came various wires that lead to the alien's body, small pads on the end and attached to his skin. He raises his arms and feels himself finding that there is a white sheet covering his lower body when he sits up. Confused of the sudden change of scene he looks around and sees that things have changed as the room itself is brighter and looks towards the bed where Rhea slept and found the covers undone and a book on her pillow.

Krieg rubs his neck and takes off the monitor pads attached to him. He gets up and stands as he makes the other drop off him conveniently. His legs feel weak or at least unused as he stumbles his way towards the door and presses the button to open it. As soon as he exit's the room he begins to hold his head and crouch down in pain. In his mind his sense of sound had left and in its place was a shrieking noise. Krieg is oblivious to those around him as he shakes and screams though the latter can't be heard by him. It can however be heard by Rhea who opens the door from the cockpit and sees Krieg crouching and screaming.

"KRIEG!" she shouts while approaching and tries to get his attention by holding his shoulders. In response he can't help but hit Rhea as he stands and lets out a more feral roar. The asari being knocked away on the ground and holding her stomach, this is still a tender area for her.

Krieg then comes to his senses and the sound stops. Not knowing what just happened he sees Rhea on the ground. He immediately runs to her and tries to help her up. "Rhea, I'm sorry."

"It's okay Krieg, I think I've had worse." she replies trying to sit-up and holds her stomach before grunting.

He notices and cradles her as he gets to one knee, "Your stomach? Is it okay? I-"

Rhea smiles at him, "Calm down, take a breather. I would after that nap you took." she states dusting herself off.

Krieg raise an eyebrow when he stands upright, "Nap? What nap?"

Rhea looks up in confusion and tilts her head, "You mean you don't know?"

Krieg smiles, "Know what? You were in facility just, weren't you? I'm glad you're safe."

"You've been out for three months." Rhea states and Krieg's reaction turns to surprise and disbelief.


	16. Masquerade: Part I

**Chapter XVI: Masquerade: Part I**

**20/05/2158- MSV Angel, Unknown System**

Krieg sits on the bed that he just woken upon. Confused and dazed as the revelation that Rhea has told him is hard to take in and since then he has had the decency to wear some pants, normally worn by humans as when he woke up he was naked. At this time Krieg had his infamous scar that trails down his spine exposed which this was only really known to a few people as he was used to covering it. He puts his head in his hand and wipes his eyes while Rhea stands at the other end of the room at her desk which she moved during the process of keeping Krieg in her room.

She is again wearing her usual medical attire though was currently opening her top to reveal her chest, her breasts covered by her right arm and presses her scar lightly though it had been many months it was still tender from time to time but Krieg sits and looks at her. She doesn't notice his staring but neither does INC, who has just entered the room and has a small tray fixed on its front. The machine holds the trey out to the alien and he looks at the contents picking up a bowl of soup and spoon. He notices that there are two bowls and INC walks over to Rhea and hands her a bowl as well to Krieg's surprise as he remembers both Rhea and INC bickering amongst themselves.

Rhea also takes a glass of water as well, "Thanks INC."

"Courtesy: Accepted." it says from the other side of the room while it places the try on the table next to Krieg's bed and take a position on the other side of the room.

Krieg watches this and looks towards INC, "I can't believe that I was out for three months."

"Correction: One hundred and five days." INC states.

Krieg grunts with a small amount of pain, "I've got a bit of a headache. And a bit of an itch on my left arm." he rubs the front of his elbow.

"Oh, sorry about that, I had to give you a few shots. Your skin is quite tough." Rhea takes a sip of water while walking over to the end of the bed where Krieg sat taking a clipboard. "Your immune systems were weakening during your sleep, so I gave you a few boosters. You fell into a stress-induced coma."

"How is that possible? That doesn't make sense even to me and it's my body." he wonders.

"Well, when you were last awake I was nearly eaten by a Thresher Maw. The possibility of that must have triggered it." Rhea puts forward.

Krieg thinks back to that point and realizes that the stress and the possibility of Rhea dying could have caused the attack he had, "I shouldn't have let you down there?"

"Krieg, me and INC got back on the ship and we're here now, so I'm fine?" Rhea asks not seeing the error of her behaviour as she never used to like the presence of INC hovering around her or the two of them.

Krieg sees this is surprised, "I remember you didn't get along with INC. What's changed?" Krieg asks.

"Well, I still don't, but because you were in need we…pulled together." she answers smiling.

INC continues, "Contribution Required: Rhea's medical knowledge and my expertise were needed in order to help you."

Rhea takes a sip of soup, "While you were out cold, I took an extensive look at your body and you had many stress fractures and bruises. Why didn't you say anything?"

Krieg doesn't look at her, "I didn't want to worry you."

"You didn't have to hide them, you don't have to be tough for my sake." she looks at her notes and continues, "Also, I've cleared up some of those burns you had on your arms from gunfire, they weren't hard but you've been lucky compared to me." Rhea says before looking at Krieg's back to see that the one scar that didn't heal. "That big one on your back didn't heal though."

Krieg puts his spoon in the now empty bowl and uses his free hand to feel his spine which this was still a mystery to him, "And what else?"

Rhea continues, "Well, you just need some rest. Is they anything you want to tell me that I should take note of?"

Krieg raises and eyebrow, "Well, I don't know. I feel different somehow."

INC interrupts, "Theory: Your body is going through a stage of reconnecting to regular functioning, emotions unstable."

"My emotions, what's significant about that?" Krieg wonders while standing up and stretching his joints.

"Pheromone Scan: Tension increasing but unable to detect why?" INC states giving away more than either Krieg or Rhea would like to hear.

Krieg looks at Rhea, embarrassed from the statement, "What's INC talking about?"

Rhea holds her clipboard to her chest in an uncomfortable manner, "I don't know but I wouldn't take any notice, you've only just woken up so your body is still…adapting."

Krieg looks away still embarrassed that INC was too revealing about his current state and had an idea of what it meant by 'tension increasing', "Well that soup sure didn't last long, I'm still hungry."

Rhea smiles and turns to INC, "INC, can you sort out some more food for Krieg please?"

"Affirmative." it says leaving the two organics alone again.

Krieg watches it leave and is amazed at how INC was being used but was not what he originally intended. "I don't remember imputing data on how to cook?"

Rhea laugh as she sit beside him, "I did, I was bored just watching you all the time and INC felt the same so it wanted more to do."

"So you taught it how to cook? What else?"

"Using the blue man program that you installed for my training, INC can cook, clean and wash clothes." she states.

He looks down in amazement, "And how is you training going?" he asks wandering that she carried on.

"Don't worry, I trained. INC was more than helpful to teach me in you absence, even though it isn't a biotic. It also helped me get in better shape."

"I can see." Krieg states causing her to blush though no flirtation intended. "I sorry to have missed you improving."

"That's not all I'm good at now, my English is much better and I've taken an extensive look at human physiology. I thought I would add more to my belt as a medic." she says followed by an awkward silence.

"Rhea, I'm sorry about this inconvenience, we should have been off the ship a lot sooner."

"Don't say that Krieg, I wouldn't leave you in the state you were." she says before reluctantly saying the next part, "However, a month ago we did have a bit of trouble." She catches Krieg attention, "For a few weeks we had a problem with a batarian ship, so we had to relocate quite hastily."

Krieg looks at her as she turns away, "Where are we Rhea?"

"Behind the Veil." she says in a soft voice.

"WHAT!" Krieg anger gets the best of him and his expression changing into a more dominating and almost violent tone, "You fucking went into the Veil? What were you thinking?" he muscles tension as Rhea watches in shock as her friend talks at height of his voice. "Did you know there were geth in the Veil? Or did you think that maybe they took a fucking vacation? I should have left the damn machine in charge!" is the last thing he says and storms out of the room with the doors closing behind him and leaving a distraught and upset Rhea.

A few hours later and Krieg stands in the doorway of the cockpit still wearing just his pants as his leans back against the opening with arms crossed. He has a bottle of scotch in his right hand and has had a few mouthfuls to calm himself down, a bad way but he believes it to be affective. He stares at the helm as Rhea exits her room obviously trying to ignore her as for the first time he is annoyed and even showed a more volatile side to the asari.

She approaches him and leans on the opposite side of the doorway looks at the stressed out Krieg, something she doesn't see often. She leans her head to the right to get into his eye line though he simply turns the other way annoying her as she watches him take a sip of the scotch and breathes out when swallowed.

She pulls a face smelling his breathe, "A few hours and you're drinking?" she says hoping to get something out of him. "Listen, Krieg. I…I didn't know what to do, I was worried and I-"

"You took a cargo vessel into geth space with the intention of hiding?" Krieg takes another drink, "You've been here a month and you haven't been caught. I'd consider that lucky, wouldn't you?"

Rhea can't look at him in the eye, "I tried to do what you would do." she says in a childlike way before looking at him, "I was careful."

"What did INC say?"

"It wasn't helpful but it knew that there weren't many options." she states, "I'm sorry, I didn't think that you'd be this mad."

Krieg looks at an upset Rhea. "It's not that I'm mad at you, I'm mad more at myself." He now tries to make contact with her, "Knowing that I was asleep for three months makes me feel that I broke my promise to protect you." he says before getting to her eyes, "Told you I wasn't perfect."

The joke doesn't impress her as she heads back to her room. The door shuts as INC hovers past tilting in recognition of Rhea heading into the room while the machine approaches once again and leaning Krieg. "Censor: Minor hostility?"

"She's pissed off that I'm pissed off. Women?" he says taking another drink.

"Conclusion found. Report: Ship is functional and ready for flight, Mass relay not far from current destination."

"No signs of Geth?" he asks it.

"Negative. Defence: Rhea was careful in staying close to a relay for quick exit." INC informs.

He sighs in response and mumbles, "It was stupid coming here in the first place. That's what it was."

INC moves around to the other side, "Probability: Affirmative. May I query sir?"

Krieg pats INC, "Not right now INC."

"Affirmative." it turns to place itself on the helm's chair and extends its two small tentacles to grab the controls.

Krieg walks to his room opposite Rhea's and enters to see some drastic changes have occurred. The room is clean as with three months of spare time Rhea had been busy. His bed was fixed and nicely put together with a blue bed sheet and pillow. He sits down on it to drink and have a look at the rest of the room smiling at fact that Rhea really put effort into keeping him cosy, though he was staying in another room at the time.

His consoles and computers were set around a desk opposite the bed and behind the desk was a chair for him to sit on. The mess that he made while he was building INC from scrap, the table and the various wires were stored somewhere else. Looking to the left of the des, towards the corner is a few crates that were not there from what he remembered. He looks at the boxes with suspicion at first but then gets to his feet and walks to them. The crates were size of typical boxes for carrying loose equipment and supplies in but when he opens it the thing he sees a note among the various pieces.

He takes another sip before he reads out the note which is written in English, "Krieg, there is some stuff in here I think that you would like, Rhea." he puts down the note and opens the box. The first thing he takes out is box of cigars, something he has taken a liking to though Rhea didn't like him smoking as he puts them on the desk. Krieg realizes his error and feels bad for the way he treated Rhea though he was too stubborn to realize it as she was only looking out for a friend. He takes out a few books; presumably Rhea has read them already but puts them aside and then takes out a bottle of brandy that she saved for him along with a few pieces of scrap that he was working on for future projects. Then he sees a few of his personal belongings that he had before his coma.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

With Rhea revealing where she took the ship during Krieg's long sleep another distressing sound approaching her a few decades later. From the operations room where she talked to her contact comes a distress in a high tempo buzzing sound. She stops the conversation with Joker on the couch and gets up with haste and heads down the hallway to the furthest room where all her equipment is set up.

She sits at her station and puts on her headphones and flicks a few switches to prepare herself. Joker is struggling to get up though he does manage and switches the screen in front of him off, which has been on during the whole conversation. The human limps towards the direction that Rhea went and watches her concentrating on communicating with the rest of the universe.

"Come in, come in, this is Captain T'Anya." she says to the microphone.

"Captain, its Cryo Team. Cerberus found us, our position is compromised." a different voice states as the other conversation she had earlier was male in tone.

"Any casualties?" she asks concerned.

"None from our side, they retreated from our position but we're going to move anyway."

"Have you told Pyro Team?" she questions referring most likely to the other person who was surveying the Normandy.

"We have, but we'll let you know when a new outpost has been found."

"Okay, thanks for informing me, out." she states catching Joker's attention as he listens in.

"What's going on Rhea?" Joker asks curious as Rhea expression is that of a major concern.

"Cerberus attacked one of my teams here on the Citadel… I didn't come alone."

Joker leans against the doorway, "So there is more of you here then besides you? What are you doing here Rhea? Cut the fucking bullshit, I know you were talking to someone before you came and talked to me earlier."

Rhea takes a deep sigh before speaking the truth, "We came to the Citadel with two teams, Pyro and Cryo Team. Cryo Team was sent to protect our mutual base camp where we would meet after the mission was complete."

"And what about the other team?" Joker asks giving a glare to her.

This only adds to her conformability, "Pyro Team was sent to survey the Normandy."

"You're fucking with my ship." he turns around feeling betrayed, "Why?"

"This was a chance we couldn't afford to miss, the Normandy has some of the most advanced technology on bored." she states hoping to get through to him, "Tell me, now the collectors are destroyed why didn't you and your team go back to port straight away?"

Joker thinks to himself, "The Normandy suffered substantial damage but most of it was repaired when we came out of the Omega 4 relay. We came here to get some of the other systems fixed, it was only meant to take few days." he states not referring whether Shepard and the team survived.

"Well, we got a message that you were here so we took it." she knows that this hasn't gone down very well.

Joker leans again on the doorway but his backed turned still pissed at Rhea deception, "Don't worry, it wasn't like Cerberus did anything different, they may have come here for the ship as well anyway. I won't hold it against you."

Rhea smiles, "Thank you." and takes her headphones off.

"Now I know how your Krieg felt." Joker says not very happy.

Rhea looks up to him, "What do you mean?"

He give a smiles, "Well you did something unexpected, spontaneous, and knew that if we found out we would be pissed off. I guess that's just women, I suppose."

Rhea is offended by the comment as he expressed that she is deceitful, "No it isn't! I didn't kidnap you Joker! I could have just left you to die at the hands of Cerberus. If they knew that you had even been in the same room as me they would have killed you. The Illusive Man believes you are just as expendable as the next person. And what happened with Krieg was different."…

**22/05/2158- MSV Angel, Perseus Veil**

A few days have passed by and the MSV Angel is still flying through the borders of geth space. The common myth of the geth was known throughout the galaxy as they are perceived as organic haters though in real truth not much is known about their true nature. While the ship flies Krieg remains in his room and is once again sitting at his desk reading a book that Rhea had put into the crates when she cleaned up. The book was nothing special though it took his mind of Rhea who he still wasn't happy with but hasn't had the courage to speak to her either.

The asari was at the other end of the ship where the make-shift kitchen was and she was making herself a salad from the vegetables she takes from the fridge. She takes a knife and finely cuts them with ease though her tempo changes as she hears footsteps heading down towards her position and that could only mean one thing. Krieg turns the corner of the crates to see that Rhea was and he takes a hesitant step back at first. She acknowledges him with slight eye contact before continuing with chopping a cucumber. Krieg brushes past her and opens the fridge himself taking out the same bottle of scotch he was drinking a few days ago and takes another swig. His presence is annoying Rhea, who is chopping at a faster pace and accidentally catching the end of the knife on her fingertip.

"Oww!" she says looking at her slightly bleeding finger.

It catches Krieg's attention, "Are you okay?" he asks innocently showing some concern.

She only slightly turns to him enough to see him staring, "Yeah, I fine." she say in harsh tone.

"Let me take a look." he insists as he picks up her hand.

She immediately retracts it feeling offended, "I said it was fine!" Her expression turns frustration as she abandons her salad and paces back towards her room on the other side of the ship. She stops in shock when she hears the sound of glass shattering presumably from the brandy bottle before she carries on.

Krieg leans on the counter and looks away from the far wall where the imprint of liquid smudges and dribbles down. He doesn't watch as INC hovers its way around the corner. "What do you want?" he asks in a dissatisfying voice.

"Hostility: Rising. Morale: Depleting. Rhea: Anger expressed." the machine wittily answers.

Krieg looks at INC and shakes his head, "I shouldn't have been so hard on her. Now she won't talk to me."

"Rhea: Stressed." it says and implies.

Krieg stands straight and turns to him, "Hey, I didn't ride into the veil as geth food!"

"Geth: No need to ingest organic matter." INC says not understanding the sentence, "Rhea: Actions justified."

"You're siding with her? Great, my own machine thinks that I'm wrong about organic behaviour!"

"Correction: You don't understand female behaviour. Analysis: Female mind is unique and different to males." INC states in a frustrated sound.

He raises and eyebrow leans on the side, "What point are you making?"

"Male: May misunderstand female body language. Solution: Apology." is all the machine says as it turns the corner.

He pulls a face of confusion, "Apology for what?" he says sarcastically, "Stupid machine." he mumbles as he looks at the mess he has made.

In the expanse of space around the ship are nothing but the light emitting from stars miles away but it doesn't mean that they are the only thing in existence as nearby is a mass relay as it is situated near one of the star systems in this cluster. By now Krieg and Rhea are in their respective rooms, both sitting at their desks and staring into nothingness as the only rational being on board is INC the machine who rests on the pilot's chair and preparing the ship to enter the Mass Relay.

The Relay is about to grab the ship and launch it to another cluster within the galaxy however it is interrupted by small explosion coming from the back of the ship stunning one of the engines exhausts and in response. The relay lets go of the ship and allows it to float away. The explosion causes a slight tremor within the ship catching the attention of both Krieg and Rhea as they both get up and make their way to the cock pit sitting either side of the machine that Krieg has trusted to helm the ship.

"What's going on INC? I didn't like the sound of that explosion." Krieg asks it strapping in.

INC scans the systems before responding, "Ship: Detected."

"Is it geth?" he asks Rhea staying quite.

"Negative: Batarian Cruiser." INC responds.

Rhea looks at the monitor in confusion to see an image of a ship that was batarian in design, "It must be the same ship that attacked us a few weeks back. They must have been waiting here."

"It might have been a geth vessel in disguise trying to lure us here." Krieg answers in a negative tone.

She doesn't answer to him instead referring to INC, "What damage has the ship sustained?"

"Fuel exhaust: 45% operational. Starbord Engine: 65%. Recovery: Possible." INC replies in a serious tone.

"I don't know about that? They seem to be tailing us." Krieg state watching the monitor.

"Does this ship have any defences?" Rhea asks.

Krieg looks at her, "It's a cargo freighter Rhea."

Rhea glares at him, "Hey, don't start with me Krieg!"

He glares back, "Start? What are you talkin-?"

"This is Captain Gotro'Galiv Vas Xun-Xun of the Flotilla Marines, state your business in geth space, immediately!" a strong male voice demands.

The two organics look at each other but Rhea is the first to respond, "We're traders and we took a wrong turn…sorry?" she looks at an unconvinced Krieg. Even INC is silent as she continues to lie on the intercom, "This is Captain Rhea T'Anya…"

"We are boarding you vessel Captain T'Anya, prepare yourselves." the intercom shuts off.

"Shit!" Rhea says leaning on her chair.

Krieg gets up, "Great going, Captain!" and heads out of the cockpit.

Rhea's face is about to explode and gets up to follow him, "Hey, at least I acted, unlike you who just stayed quiet. You pussy!"

Krieg turns around in confusion as he doesn't understand the slurs meaning, "What?"

"You heard! You're a pussy!" she says like she has never said it before only read what it meant in language use.

"Okay, I don't even know what that means." he responds before heading into his room and taking out his armour from one of the crates in the corner unused for three months. Rhea looks on as he takes off his current attire and then put the lower half on along with his torso plates and braces. He gives her look walks past her thinking to himself that at least he prepared for boarding.

Rhea knows what he is going to do and heads into her room with haste. She pulls out the top draw of her desk and takes the very same pistol that Rhodius gave her when she left with Krieg and the same one she used on the Thresher Maw on Trebin. She turns and heads out of her room and jogs towards where Krieg was going. He is in the open space and heading towards the area where a ship can connect to a Kowloon-class ship, towards the starboard end of the ship. Rhea runs in front of him to block his path and he is not very happy with her silent protest.

"I know what you are doing Krieg." Rhea says standing her ground.

"And what's that?"

She gets in close, "You going to 'defend' the ship."

"Exactly, now get of my way!" he says in a threatening tone his face close to hers.

"No." she replies gritting her teeth.

"I won't ask you again, Rhea. Get the fuck out my way?" he fists clench as Rhea isn't moving, "Rhea. I'm serious."

"So am I?" she replies but there staring is interrupted by the sound of a bump coming from the batarian freighter as the two look down the hallway and hear the sound of people boarding. She looks at her friend with regret as she lets him past for him only to walk a few steps as the door from the far end opens and the opposing cavalry enter the area.

The group was five quarians, four males and one female. They all wear similar armour and designs though with some noticeable differences. The supposed leader, Captain Gotro'Galiv is more noticeable as his visor is a blood red and his cloth is jet black while the straps holding his suit on his body are a murky grey. He also has no hood over his suit, giving the impression that was old and appears to be wearing some sort of jacket over his torso showing signs of an adventurer and not an average quarian as the jacket was black and open to see his armour underneath.

The others wear suits of a more generic design being black and blue though the female wears a purple visor. The four soldiers push Krieg back towards Rhea who has dropped her pistol and puts her hands in the air, showing more sense. Each of the soldiers takes a one-kneed position surrounding them pointing the Stiletto pistols at the pair while Gotro points a shotgun. The male quarian remains calm as he takes a look at the open space of the human designed ship not knowing its origin and not expressing emotion with it.

He turns to the pair, "Captain T'Ayna, I presume?" he asks in a strong quarian accent.

She looks at Krieg who shows no care for her nodding, "Yes."

"This ship is very nice, spacious and cosy and just the two of you here taking up so much room. It seems…wasted." he states turning to them, "We quarians don't have the luxury of space. We must be satisfied with what we can call home. But you wouldn't know would you, asari?"

Rhea gets the insult being a member of the economically wealthiest race in the galaxy, "No, I wouldn't" she bitterly replies.

"Captain, what is this creature in front of us?" the female asks referring to the grey alien, "Do you recognise it?"

Gotro tilts his head as he scans Krieg and gives him a stare straight in the eyes, "I don't know this creature. It's ugly though, like two vorcha mating."

"Go fuck yourself!" Krieg replies.

Gotro is unfazed, "Maybe it's one of the lesser races, you know those who are few in number or haven't made a significant impact?" he puts away his shotgun and crosses his arms. "He is an interesting looking thing, isn't he?"

"He could be dangerous?" the female answer, "We should kill him!"

"No Zeki, I don't want to risk this opportunity." he presses a button on his helmet, "Come in bridge, this is Captain Galiv…"

Rhea leans to Krieg, "Why haven't you killed them yet?" she whispers.

"I thought you didn't want me to?" he replies and not helping the situation.

She sighs and still whispering, "You know what I mean, why have you done anything?"

"I want to know what's going on?" he says scanning the quarian soldiers, "Something here doesn't feel right."

She raises an eyebrow, "You think? They're pointing guns at us."

"Yeah, but look at the guns. Their pistols not rifles."

"So?" Rhea looks at him confused.

"Well most marines or soldiers are equipped with a decent standard of weapon. Like turians that caught me." he says.

"Krieg, they're quarians. They don't have the luxury of first-class equipment they normally make do with what they can find." she states trying to show Krieg as being ignorant.

"Don't be naïve Rhea. I know it's-"

"Don't you dare say-"

"Shut your mouth both of you!" Zeki says standing on her feet.

Gotro turns to see his female comrade and then the duo, "Getting social are we, Zeki?"

Her head turns to her captain, "No sir, they were talking amongst themselves."

"Well, I am preparing evacuation from the ship into this one soon."

"Evacuation? Why are you evacuating?" Rhea asks them.

Gotro shakes his head, "Zeki, take this one to the Xun-Xun's holding pen. She's asking too many questions."

"Yes sir." the quarian reaches for Rhea's hand ready to restrain her but she incidentally is victim to Rhea's grasp alerting the others to raise their weapons ready to fire.

Even Gotro is about to pull his shotgun before Krieg leans over and whispers, "Rhea, go along with it." he insists.

Rhea looks at Krieg and sees the trust in his eyes letting Zeki pick up her pistol from by her feet and restrain her as the suited organic cuffs her and escorts her away to the entrance to the ship. "Sorry, reflex." she responds while being escorted.

Gotro and his three other male quarians continue to keep guard of the alien, "Out of the two of you, it is the unknown that seems to be smarter. What planet are you from, beast?"

"I don't know."

"Mm… and generic answer, but plausible I suppose. Unlike that asari." he states as he leans on the crate, "You know the quarians are a small race nowadays, since the geth."

"I heard, about three hundred years ago, right?" Krieg replies.

"Indeed, we went too far. Like those who enter the Veil." Gotro states before he puts his shotgun on a crate, "What are you doing out here?"

Krieg smiles, "I could ask a quarian the same question, being here doesn't seem to fit this encounter."

"Ah, true, true. We quarians are very elusive nowadays and our reputation is tainted. You know what's funny, we quarians worship our ancestors, and our ancestors created the geth."

"Sounds like quarians aren't too bright either." Krieg cockily says causing a soldier to stand in protest.

Gotro immediately signals to hold position, "Now why would you say that? I didn't catch you name?"

"Krieg."

"Krieg. Why would you say a quarian's stupid in front of quarians of all people?"

"Oh, I'm not saying you personally. But the fact that you seem to worship people who are the ones responsible for your exile seems strange."

Gotro looks away from the taller alien and looks at his comrades, "You have a point, a conclusion that couldn't have been put better myself." he says to Krieg's surprise before he continues, "It's a shame that the fleet doesn't have natural thinkers like you and me."

"You say that with a bit of distain?" Krieg notices through the tone of his voice.

"Of course, being a quarian is not just an identity of race but a way of life as well." he states with pride turning his back to Krieg, "We are survivalists by nature now, however we put our faith in a small group. Millions of quarians bow to them, hoping that they will find us a home but we keep going, travelling the stars forever and more." he turns his head so Krieg can get a view of his red visor, "That's what we have been reduced to."

His rant is interrupted by the sight of other quarains entering the ship starting with two guards who hold shotguns as they stand in the doorway. Krieg watches as the quarians inhabiting the connected ship are beginning to migrate into his.

He watches dozens of them, adults both pre and post pilgrimage entering in their trademark suits. Children were also present though they had to wear what looked like masks that normally quarian children would wear for emergencies, same design and their bodies with cover with dark coloured robes and fabrics, not revealing their true appearance. Even the babies were hidden within egg-shaped pods, with one half the colour of a mask's visor while the other half is silver though you couldn't see inside as the mothers carried them to a spot to regroup with their friends.

Krieg turns to Gotro, "What are you doing with my ship?"

"Your ship? Your Captain is in our holding cell." he corrects him.

Krieg realizes what Rhea said before and reluctantly nods, "Of course, can you answer my question?"

Gotro looks at his fellow kind find spaces, "Our ship is too broken for us to carry on and supplies are running thin."

"So you're raiding the ship and taking it."

"We've been tailing your ship for a while and it has the engine required to get us back to fleet." he states, "Sorry we have to do it this way but the Migrant Fleet makes exceptions of ship-theft during emergencies." he looks past the alien's shoulder to seeing one of his kind walk past and standing at ease to his captain. He was shorter than most adult quarians and wears a red and white suit with a purple visor and holds a Thunder rifle, "Olic, state your business?"

Olic nods in response, "Every civilian is boarding the ship. All that's left is the personal."

Gotro nods back, "Good work, err… get some of the men to remove these crates and store them on the Xun-Xun."

"There might be valuables, sir?" Olic says bringing up a point.

The senior quarian looks at his trooper and then at the grey alien, "You, Krieg, you're a trader aren't you?"

Krieg plays a long knowing it will get him somewhere, "Err, yeah."

"Well, how much is this stuff worth?" he demands to know.

"Quite a lot to the right buyer. What specifically do you want to keep?" Krieg wanders trying to get some information.

"Medical and repair supplies?" he says giving the information away.

Olic responds to this information, "What about food sir? The people are starving and rations are low."

"The asari on bored indicated that this ship doesn't have any dextro-protein food. However, keep it as we may be able to sell it along with the junk, keep the water for now so we can regulate it use." Gotro knows what important showing a form of experience.

"Yes, sir." Olic obeys before walking up to Krieg and pointing his rifle at the side of his stomach, "Come on freak, let's go." he says leading him to the front of the ship, where the artificial intelligence INC is still in the cockpit.

Rhea on the other hand isn't being treated less civilized as she is being led by Zeki who is pointing Rhodius' pistol in the asari's back. The interior of the ship is similar to that of many ships within the migrant fleet as it is dark and cold and lighted by small long tubes on the ceiling. The gloomy atmosphere adds to the constant humming coming from all around, signalling that the ship still has power. Also like her ship crates are everywhere, even in the formation of beds for quarians to sleep on within the hallways of the ship as well as the dorms they were passing.

Being pushed down some steps she falls on her front hitting her cheek on the cold metal surface, causing an instant lump on her soft face. Zeki walks down the steps and lifts her up and pushes the barrel against her kidney and they continue down the stairwell towards the brig. They pass a door that leads below though Rhea doesn't get enough time to see what is down there as she begins to pass and few closed doors before being lead into a small room on her right.

"Get in asari!" Zeki orders and is pointing at the room.

"But it's a store room?" Rhea says seeing a few crates.

Zeki shakes her head in frustration, "Shut up, get in!"

Rhea reluctantly enters the room and watches Zeki press the button to close the door. She begins looking round the place and sees the room and its few residents. Sitting on a crate in the corner is a young male quarian wearing a grey and blue suit with a crack in his blue visor and a child, a female wearing a dark purple fabic suit with a poncho-like robe over it and a belt around her waist to tidy it. This one looks only around twelve years old though her face is hiding behind an emergency mask. She looks up to see the asari. Both of them don't move as they stare at the blue alien most likely because being only young and still on a ship they have never seen another alien in the flesh before.

Rhea looks at the two of them, "Are you two okay?" she asks but doesn't get a response from them. She approaches the girl and crouches down; "I'm Rhea, what's your name?" she asks in a friendly tone trying to reach the child.

The female leans in, "…Hello…I'm Saan. What are you?" she asks.

Rhea smiles at her innocence, "I'm an asari, and my name is Rhea. Nice to meet you Saan." she looks at the other, "And what's your name?"

"Mual doesn't talk, not anymore." Saan states and looks at the adolescent quarian keeping his head down.

Rhea looks at Mual and sees the crack on his visor indicating that he was in some sort of trouble, presumably by Gotro, "What happened to his helmet? Was he in trouble?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't say." Saan stands and looks at him.

Rhea looks at the young male who is shying away from her as she tries to get close, "Hey, it's okay. I'm a doctor." Mual looks up and lets the asari examine him but she has her work cut out as she has to do everything from outside the suit. She presses the alien's arms lightly hoping to get a reaction and can hear sounds of slight pain coming from his visor. She then hears a scream from him as soon as she touches the upper right-arm but she stays calm, "Okay Mual, Mual, calm down. You've have broken your arm." she looks around but can't find anything useful. She then has to improvise as she takes a piece of wiring that was in one of the crates. She looks at Mual, "Now Mual, I'm going to use this strap as a sling for your arm okay." he nods in response as she warps the wire around his left shoulder and straps it together, supporting his right arm.

Saan watched her the whole time in awe, "Thank you, you're the only person willing to help him." she says sitting on the crate next to him.

Rhea sits on an opposite crate within the room. "How long have you in this room?"

"A few weeks I think. I was sent in here for stealing extra rations." Saan states not impressing Rhea, "It's not like that. We're starving in this ship, and we haven't seen the fleet in weeks."

Rhea crosses her arms, "What happened?"

"The ship started malfunctioning while the fleet was entering one of the Mass Relays in the Attican Traverse two months ago. We managed to get some power but we lost them and found ourselves stranded." Saan informs her, "Since then we've had to ration the food and with the Captain dead."

Rhea thinks back to her first contact, "Dead, I thought Gotro was your Captain?"

Saan tilts her head, "What? Gotro is second-in-command, he is only an acting captain. He took over after Captain Frytus died in the explosion that happened down stairs in the engine room."

"That makes sense, what else do you know about Gotro?" Rhea asks her.

The young girl thinks for a second, "He is very well respected, especially by the marines. Everyone else thought that he was an eccentric former-adventurer until the revolt."

"Revolt?" Rhea leans forward in interest.

"I don't know much but my mom said that a few of the engineers tried to take direct control and and Second-in-Command, Gotro killed the renegades. After that many of the people on board had more faith in him and trusted his judgment, most of the adult's anyway." she answers. "My mother and father trusted him and believe he knows what is best for the population."

"How many of you are there?" Rhea leans back.

"About a few hundred and about fifty are marines under Gotro."

"You don't like him?"

"No, Gotro may be the leader now but if the Admiralty Bored knew what he was doing he would be exiled. He rations the food but the marines get more. I've seen it and that's why I tried to steal food, for everyone else." she puts her arms around Mual for comfort, "Some of the older male teens weren't happy either and confronted Gotro. He offered them rations for joining them."

"So he had the marines and youth in his control. He had full power on the ship."

"Yes, these store rooms became cells for those who didn't follow Gotro." she carries on rubbing Mual's back, "We're but a few who have suffered. How did you get on the ship?"

"Your ship is attached to mine. Gotro said something about an evacuation." Rhea says naively.

The young quarian gets up and walks to the door and starts banging on it, "Oh no, it's happening. Hey! Let us out! You've forgotten us!"

"What are you doing?" Rhea wonders.

Saan starts panicking, "They're going to leave us here, they're going to leave us to die!" she starts crying in under her mask scared for her lift. She isn't prepared for Mual showing character in putting his free arm around her and letting her rest her head on his shoulder. "I didn't think he was serious."

Rhea leans to the quarian face-to-face, "What did he say?"

"He said that we were going to be left behind with the pirates, but I know that you are not a pirate."

"I see, the fucking bastards." Rhea says realising that the pirates that attacked her were in fact the quarians intending to steal the ship. "We need to get out of here."

Back on the Angel Gotro is standing in the hallway where the cockpit, Krieg's room, Rhea's room and the cargo bay meet. Since Rhea has been taken aboard the other ship, the marines and civilians of the ship have been busy in transporting the crates full of human artefacts from earth.

Krieg stands in his room with Olic behind him as he watches to see his personal belongings being moved by the quarians, not before they rummaged through it and take out the tools that Krieg used to build INC and throw them on the bed with intent to keep them for themselves. He also sees some of the civilians carry a few blue crates with H2O on them and placing them in his room with Gotro taking control of the rationing already.

One quarian is trying to enter the advanced console on Krieg's desktop as it is the only one that he can visually understand, the human console being set on English. It isn't long before the quarian has hacked into the systems and managed to convert the English into a quarian dialect, showing that the Citadel have already updated the languages of the galaxy, adding humans to their list.

There is a quarian marine in a black and grey suit leaning against the wall, "Hey freak, give me your belt!" he demands in a seasoned voice.

Krieg looks at his belt which the only possession that he has had since he awoke before glaring at the quarian, "No."

He gets of the wall and meets the alien face-to-face, "You have balls grey-thing, now give me that belt!"

"Do as he says!" Olic pushes his gun to Krieg trying to be bad.

Krieg raises and eyebrow unconvinced, "Don't touch me little man."

"It's your choice, grey man." the older quarian states pointing his pistol.

"Commander Droh! What's going on here?" asks an entering Gotro seeing two guns in Krieg's direction.

"This thing won't give me his belt?" Droh answers to his captain with respect.

"Give it to him Krieg." Gotro orders.

"Captain, you wouldn't simply part with a suit if someone threatened you, would you? This belt is a part of me, and the contents inside it." Krieg says lying and protecting his own equipment.

Gotro looks at his men and then at the belt still around Krieg waist and sighs, "Let him keep it, it's not like he is coming with us anyway."

"Captain!" a voice shouts around the corner.

Gotro turns around and see another youthful member of his regime walking around the corner, "What is it?"

"Captain we found this in the pilot's chair in the cockpit." the youth states as two marines carry INC shut down and dead to Krieg's surprise. This was a major concern to Krieg because INC was an artificial intelligence. If Gotro found out that it was what it was then Krieg and Rhea's life may be in more danger let alone the dozens of quarians on board the ship.

"What is that?" Olic wonders and is intrigued by the shape rather than the turrets on the front of it.

Gotro turns Krieg, "Yes, what is that thing?"

Krieg looks at the quarians and INC thinking of the variables to consider and knowing that he is in a difficult situation.


	17. Masquerade: Part II

**Chapter XVII: Masquerade: Part II**

**22/05/2158- MSV Angel, Perseus Veil**

Krieg stands there waiting to give an answer to the quarian Gotro who has seized his ship in order to get his crew back to the flotilla though his recent methods are questionable. The quarian is currently inspecting the artificial intelligence known as INC, held by a pair of quarian males who found it in the cockpit where it was originally piloting the Angel.

Krieg looks at INC itself and is in a state of confusion of why it is shut down though he knows the consequences if it was to interact with a single quarian due to their history with the geth as they hate any form of AI. Gotro points to the bed that Krieg would normally sleep on and the two marines place it on their walking away afterwards and back to the cockpit. Gotro and the two other more prominent quarians, Droh and Olic surround the thing and look at its design not recognizing the reaper-shape but also interested in the turrets based in front of it. Olic then decides to keep an eye on Krieg as Droh pokes the piece of metal and Gotro crosses his arms and turns to the grey alien.

"So, what is this thing? Looks like combat drone though I don't know the design?" Gotro informs having a keen eye for technology.

"That's exactly what it is. I retrieved it from some scrap." Krieg says going along with it but constantly rubbing his right cheek as he begins to feel a strange pain coming from that area.

Droh stands and turns to Gotro, "Seems to be in good shape. We'll need the engineer to have a look at it though."

"We'll sort that out later. Commander, I want you take Krieg here to the engine room and begin repairs on the damage we did." Gotro states remembering that he blew one of the fuel exhausts before he boarded.

"Of course, Captain." he nods and walks up to Krieg pointing his pistol into his stomach, "Get moving!" he shouts to Krieg's dismay and uses his gun to push the grey alien out of the room.

Gotro walks to the doorway and watches the alien be escorted and passing many of his kind trying to get comfortable in the cargo bay. He turns his head slightly when Olic stands beside him, "I hope you're prepared Olic."

Olic holds his rifle close to himself and keeps his head down, "What do mean, sir?"

Gotro turns his head to the young male, "You know the plan. As soon as the engine is fixed, the evacuation is complete." he says in an assertive manner. "And everyone who doesn't make it will lose their lives in this tragic 'accident'."

"Yes sir, thank you sir." he says in an obedient tone and watches his captain walk towards the cockpit. He turns around to look at INC still lying their motionless and tilts his head while sitting next to the machine and watches the other quarians reorganize the room for Gotro.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker looks at Rhea as she tells the story of how the quarains were going to seize their ship from them which is out of character for the race as a whole that were taught to work together and that stealing a ship is treason.

Rhea leans against the wall and can see the com-room from her position while Joker leans on the doorway to it. He still isn't happy about the news that Rhea was keeping information about her mission from Joker, which involved the Normandy SR-2. Being the most advanced ship within the galaxy it was always going to be a target for someone but he hasn't questioned her further though he knows that there are two of her 'teams' on the Citadel, their locations unknown to him but known to the asari.

"Gotro. What a fucking bastard." Rhea remembers that day when they boarded and threw her in the makeshift prison of his.

Joker nods his head while leaning on the doorway of her com-room, "So the reason why you went into the Veil all along was because Gotro tricked you in going in there? So he could take your ship? You must have felt stupid?"

She continues to lean on the wall opposite though his insult doesn't help, "Yep, he attacked the ship and we escaped through the relay. The ship was an old batarian cruiser so I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference."

"I've heard about the flotilla buying old ships to make up for the fleet, modifying them themselves." Joker recalls presumably from what Tali'Zorah told him and Shepard. "What about the damage they did, did Krieg fix it for them."

"Their initial attack hit one of the exhausts and damage was also taken by the starboard engine and Krieg, knowing the blueprints of the ship was held at gunpoint to repair it." she recalls.

"What about you? You were stuck on the other ship weren't you?"

"Yes, I was and things didn't get easier. Me on one ship and Krieg on the other."

"With the way you two were acting I'm surprised that you didn't enjoy other company for a change?" Joker refers to the recent falling out between the two of them.

"That proved difficult, but at the time I think we knew that we had to put our differences aside. We were always good like that."…

**22/05/2158- The Xun-Xun, Perseus Veil**

Mual sits on a crate within a small store room within the bottom decks of the quarian ship. His right-arm lifted is in a makeshift sling of old wiring courtesy of Rhea who was examining it once again. It had been a few hours since the ships connected with each other and Rhea being put into the cell with the two quarians. Saan, the other quarian is sitting in front of the door hoping for it open and the marines to take her on the ship with the rest of the population.

Outside of the room there is hardly anyone except for a single marine sitting on the step with a rifle ready to shoot anyone trying to escape. Commander Zeki, a female quarian who put Rhea into the cell is walking down the steps from the stairwell and the marine stands in respect to his superior. She ignores him and wanders down the hallway towards the very same storeroom as the three of them and opens the door from the outside. Stepping in, Saan crawls back towards the other two in fear but Rhea is unfazed by her.

"You, asari. Come with me, now." she demands ordering Rhea to step forward.

Rhea just raises an eyebrow, "Why? What do you want with me?"

She pulls out her pistol, "You're a medic are you not? I saw you help Mual with his arm on camera"

"Yeah, so? What's it to you?" Rhea sneers while the Saan gets behind her out of fear.

Zeki lets out a sigh knowing her approach hasn't worked, "We need your help with some of the ill within the ship upstairs."

"And if I refuse?" the asari questions further hoping to get a reaction.

Zeki walks up to her and points the gun into her stomach where the scar is, "Don't mess around, asari. I don't have time for this shit. Gotro wants to make use of you before we leave the Veil."

Rhea looks at the two younger ones and then turns to Zeki reluctantly nodding as she follows the quarian out of the storeroom and into the hallway of the ship with Saan and Mual trapped in there once again.

They both walk up the stairwell to one floor up where Rhea can see that some of the crates she saw before have been moved presumably to her ship but with the lack of people and objects in the way the walking experience is better and more pleasant as she follows Zeki in front of her, her pistol still in hand ready to gun Rhea down if need be. Zeki turns the corner and into a fairly larger room than that of the storeroom.

The room was brightly lit and had a four beds and medical equipment around them though there wasn't any kind of syringes or operating tools, explaining Gorto desperation for such supplies but lucky for them there are a few in a small boxes that a marine transported from her ship in order for her to use.

There was a patient on every bed, supposedly the ones Gotro wants to transport when he leaves but Rhea notices something isn't right as they are all wearing more well-padded suits compare to the civilians showing that they were marines. There is also another room connected to the ward with four more beds though these are inhabited by two marines and two others by what looks like other important personal, as their suits have the addition of sheaves made from a plastic material to prevent bacteria from entering the suit as they normally deal in chemicals indicating that they were most likely scientists.

Rhea looks at the place in disgust, "What happened here? Where are the doctors?"

Zeki looks at the marine in front of her and leans against one of the beds putting her hand on one of theirs and holding it, "There are none. We tend to look after each other, but these seem to have caught the virus from a few weeks ago."

Rhea crosses her arms and gets serious, "What kind of virus?"

Zeki turns to face her, "Just a simple cold originally but we had put the first person in a cell to prevent an epidemic. She died but all of these were infected afterwards."

"These eight?" Rhea asks thinking it a coincidence that important members of the ship are the ones that are ill.

She nods innocently, "Yes, we patched their suits so that they wouldn't spread and no else has been infected since?"

"When was the last case?" she asks them.

Zeki pauses for a second recalling from her memory, "About ten days ago. The notes have been lost but if you can check their condition we would be grateful."

Rhea sarcastically laughs, "How would you be grateful? I'm doing this because there is a gun pointed at me."

"Some of these marines are my friends; I haven't got anyone but my friend Droh now and his wife was the one who caught the virus. Gotro intends to abandon these people for the sake of everyone else but I'll take any option to save them." Zeki walks over to Rhea's stuff and takes out a random piece of her medical kit, "Please, I got some of your stuff to help."

Rhea sighs knowing that she has to do the right thing but is suspicious at the same time, "Okay, but I'll need some additional help. Get me Saan from the storeroom."

"The thief, we were going to take her to the ship soon?" Zeki says to her surprise.

Rhea turns and raises her eyebrows, "I need an assistant."

Zeki nods again knowing that Rhea probably knows best, "Of course." Zeki exit's the room leaving the asari alone.

Rhea has the chance to escape the ship and a chance to free Krieg but her morals get the best of her as she wanders over to the marine that Zeki was comforting and scans the body, looking for abnormalities, "A simple cold shouldn't do too much damage?" she says to herself as she looks at the areas of possible entry for bacteria, the only rational cause of a virus though she is aware of the week immune system of the quarian race. She is startled however when the marine takes in a deeper breath and making a sound of heavy breathing, "Hey, hey, don't move." she say hold his arms down.

He tries raising his head and looks at her in the eyes, "Systems down….getting weaker." is all he can say before falling back in to his silent state to the fear of Rhea who has addition reservations on this 'virus' story.

Krieg on the other hand was in a similar situation where he was forced to help the quarians with stealing his own ship by repairing the damage that was done to it. He is in the starboard engine room below and the area and wouldn't normally be accessed when using the ship but it was the only way to get the ships exhausts working. The room was warm and humid which was apparent by Krieg sweating with his torso armour removed and thrown down by the side of him.

Despite him working on the repairs he wasn't alone as there was another worker with him, a male quarian wearing a grey and red suit. He was fixed on repairing the ship more than Krieg and was getting to the point of frustration as he lets it out by slapping the wall beside the open panel. Krieg remains unmoved and manages to connect some of the piping that contributes to the ships fuels flow much to the male's annoyance as he wasn't used to this human technology.

"This ship is never getting back to the Flotilla like this!" he says in a negative tone.

Krieg raise his eyebrows and he continues to use his hands not given tools like his new colleague, "You should look at the schematics again." he says helpfully before once again rubbing his cheeks feeling the strange pain again.

He sits down on the crates and role open a large piece of paper with blueprints on them. He throws it down in frustration, "Ah, it's all this human language. We haven't been updated with translations yet."

Krieg laughs, "You aliens and reliance on technology."

The quarian looks up, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Krieg turns and realizes that he may of offended him, "Sorry, it's not just you it's the whole of the galaxy. You rely on technology to do the work for you." he states though his talent for extracting language from organics is useful to say the least.

The male quarian sits there, "I shouldn't even be down here."

"Then go back up, what's stopping you?" he asks while turning back to his work.

"Commander Droh, he wants this ship running quickly." he says with a bit of real discomfort, "Though it's better than what he normally does with me nowadays anyway."

"Oh, what does he do normally?" Krieg asks while fixing another pipe with some spare tubing.

"He feels me up." he states.

This causes a sound from Krieg's direction as he is caught off guard with this comment, "Sorry, I thought you said that 'he feels you up'? You mean like…?"

"He does, he has been like this since his wife died." he goes on to say in a casual manner.

Krieg leans against the wall and looks down at the male, "That bastard's married? He seems like the type who you would ditch on the first date?"

He gives a light sigh, "He wasn't always like this, he used by the most caring and considerate man on the ship but his wife became ill with a weird virus awhile back and died. He still hasn't found closure."

"And he thinks by feeling you up he'll feel better?" Krieg goes on to ask.

"I suppose, I mean I enjoy it because I don't li-" he realizes that he is talking to not just a stranger but another alien, "Who are you? I don't even know you?" he picks up the blueprints and tries to read them again.

Krieg doesn't carry on with his work as he sees that the quarian is uncomfortable, "You're a gay aren't you?"

He looks up confused through his helmet, "I'm sorry?"

"You are attracted to male quarians?" he states in a casual and observational manner.

The quarian shakes his head though it's more in confusion than denial, "Listen, you won't tell anyone will you?"

"What's your name?" he asks him.

"Tyon'Midas" he answers.

Krieg smiles and shakes his head, "No I won't tell, Tyon. Though I'm not sure about homosexuals and the way quarians view them." he states sitting on a crate, "Care to fill me in, no pun intended."

Tyon gives an amused chuckle, "It's okay. I guess being gay is accepted nowadays in most races including my own but the quarian survival relies on reproduction. If I don't like women sexually then really I can't reproduce and I can't strengthen the population, that's the downside to being gay."

"And the upside?" Krieg wanders.

"The suit protects me from showing my urges I suppose. I mean I was straight originally before I went on my pilgrimage. But when I was on it I met another quarian, he was older and more experienced and we fell in love. However, he returned to the fleet and I carried on with my pilgrimage. Later I came back and was accepted on the Xun-Xun, reunited with my lover only this time he was married."

Krieg thinks and puts two and two together realizing who it was, "Wait, Droh was your lover?"

"Yes, I confronted him and he told me to back off from him and his wife so I obeyed for two years. Having to watch him with her was unbearable, but he loved her like he loved me. When she died he needed a friend, or more than a friend. He used come into the engineering room to talk and be 'close'."

Krieg's eyes are that of un-comfort as being around a homosexual was more different than he thought finding sexual relations of any kind a bit uncomfortable, "You love him, I know how you feel." Krieg says causing Tyon to raise his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing." he says turning the conversation back to Tyon, "So does your family know?"

"Both my parents are dead. They died a year ago in a pirate attack. I guess I have the comfort knowing that they don't know." he admits to himself though after they pause their conversation was interrupted by Droh himself climbing down into the room.

Droh sees both of them sitting down, "What are you doing Tyon? I told you sort this out!"

Tyon stands up to him, "But I was just-"

"We need this ship up and running if we are to get back to the Flotilla." Droh says in a softer tone and putting his hand on his 'lover's' bicep, "Go and gets some water." he orders and he obeys. Droh looks at Krieg with some suspicion, "Back to work freak!" he orders before following Tyon up to above the engine room. Tyon waits for Droh to climb out before accompanying him as the older quarian shuts the trapdoor to the engine room and places a crate over it so Krieg can't get out. They head over towards the main area where the marines are setting up water distribution.

A few hours later and Rhea is still treating the people in the medical bay within the other ship, Saan assisting her with her equipment. The young female quarian passes the asari clean syringes and opens the small patch on the side of their arm and administers the jab into one of the ill marines and watching the monitor beside them.

Zeki is watching over the pair as she doesn't trust them completely but kept her pistol in her holster as she watches them do their work. Rhea looks at the monitor and sees that the bodily functions of the previous jabs she administer have increase surprisingly quickly. She puts the empty piece of equipment back on the tray that Saan holds and Rhea walks up to Zeki and gets in close.

"Listen, I don't want to get into trouble but I have a bad feeling about what happened to these people." Rhea whispers.

Zeki scans the room at the bodies, "What do you mean, they're sick?"

"But they're reacting to the injections really quickly. No one recovers this fast, not even those with high immune systems." Rhea explains.

"What are you saying?" Zeki curiously asks.

Rhea leans in more, "They're not ill. I think it's their suits."

Zeki is shocked at this conclusion and begins to look at the marines on the beds, "Their suits are of the highest quality and some have marine-standard?"

"I heard that quarian suits can sometimes have a system to help regulate their bodies?" Rhea wonders not sure about the rumour.

"Yes, I have them in my suit and most marines do, and scientists because they normally leave the fleet more than most. The system feeds us information on our surrounding, temperature, gas levels, breathable environments, etc. Encase there is a possibility of a disease being contracted from anything specific." Zeki reveals.

"What happens if they break down?" Rhea wanders.

"Then they would be a higher risk of contracting disease because the suit doesn't process the vital information, like whether bacteria were on the ship or we may be exposed to some." Zeki realizes the flaw in her side of the argument, "Okay, you've made a point. I'll call for Engineer Midas to get here and check the suits." she presses the button on her helmet to get in touch with the engineer.

While she is doing this a marine escorts a young quarian in her late teens wearing a purple and grey suit. She is holding her stomach as the marine leads her to the sink on the far side of the ward and aids her in taking her mask off.

Rhea heads over to the pair while Saan just watches from a distance still holding the tray. Rhea doesn't see the face of the young female but sees the vomit that she releases before putting the mask back on for safety reasons.

"Where did this one come from?" she asks the marine.

The marine looks at her in the eye, "Her name is Xera. She was in one of the storerooms."

"You mean the prison cell?" Rhea says with cynicism.

"Yes. I don't understand, we didn't know what was going one. She was banging on door for attention-" he informs.

Zeki gets off her intercom and approaches the group, "What's going on here?" she looks and recognizes the person and turns to the marine, "Go back to your post." and he obeys.

Rhea helps the quarian onto a free bed and comforts her, "What do you know about this one then?"

"This is Xera, she is twenty years old. She is meant to be going on her Pilgrimage soon."

"We shall see. Xera, how are you feeling?"

"I keep being sick." she says in a soft voice.

"Mm…and when are you sick?" Rhea says setting up some equipment.

"Every so often, but mainly when I wake up." she says with total innocence.

Rhea looks at the female, "I see. Listen Xera are okay with providing me with a sample of urine."

Xera can't express herself and looks at Zeki who she trusts, "Why does she want me to give my urine?" she asks the older quarian.

"Don't worry Xera, she can be trusted." Zeki pulls Rhea aside, "What are you doing? She is scared."

"I know. Listen, I need your help her. She trusts you so she'll do it for you not for me." Rhea ensures.

Zeki nods in agreement as Rhea was the expert, "Xera, I'm going to take you to the bathroom okay?" Xera nods in response and Zeki helps her into the nearby en-suite. Rhea is concerned as she leans on the wall and watches Saan helping by cleaning up the equipment has used before appreciating her help in this hectic time. It is in fact the hospital-like environment that made her enjoy practicing medicine, revitalizing her passion though not showing that she was secretly enjoying it.

Saan approaches her, "Rhea, thank you for letting me out of that place. It has been ages since I've seen this part of the ship." she gives her hug taking Rhea off guard.

Humbled by the compliment she returns the friendly embrace, "It's okay, Saan. you're good at what you do. Ever thought about studying medicine?"

"Well, I'd like to but it's hard to chase such a career, no money, no opportunity. Many just go into engineering." she informs still holding on, "But it is interesting."

She lets go of her, "Well here's a tip, if you have a hunch about something then chase it up."

"I don't understand."

Rhea looks at the door to the bathroom currently occupied by Xera and Zeki, "What do you know about Xera?"

"Not much, she is older than me so I don't talk to her that much. She spends most of her time with the marines, getting ready for her pilgrimage with Mual and Olic." Saan says not really understanding the point in the question.

They both turn at the sound of a knock on the door as entering is Tyon with a canister of water, "Hello. I'm Tyon, the engineer."

Rhea realizes this is Zeki's contact, "Oh yes, can you scan the suits of these patients please for abnormalities." She asks as he doesn't sayanything and just obeys the command. Rhea is surprised by his politeness.

Saan however approaches him in a casual manner, "Hey Tyon, Rhea said I could help out." she says trying to show off.

"As long as it keeps you out of trouble, Saan." he turns to get another look at Rhea, "Are you that other one's friend?" he asks.

Rhea gives him a look, "Krieg?"

He nods, "That's him, nice guy." he says before continuing his duties. Rhea stands there confused at the gay quarians compliment.

Gotro, the quarian captain sits behind Krieg's desk and has taking it for his own. His legs are on the desk and in his right hand he holds a water canister and holds his shotgun in his left hand, resting it on his shoulder. He looks at the screens, now in quarian rather than English but doesn't bother to read it.

He is not alone with the room as INC still rests on the bed and Olic sits next to it with assault rifle in hand like he was guarding the INC, who was currently shut down. Droh is also present as he leans in the doorway with his arms crossed and is thinking to himself though has problems of his own.

Gotro breaks the silence, "How long is that grey thing going to take?"

"He was working with Tyon but he has had to go to the other ship." Droh mumbles.

"What for? He should be working with Krieg." Gotro wanders while sitting up on his chair, "And why is that thing next to you not working Olic?"

Olic thinks to himself as he looks at the AI, "Tyon hasn't looked at it yet."

The senior quarian throws his hands up, "Tyon, Tyon, Tyon, don't we have any other engineers?"

Droh stands forward, "Hey, give him a break. He's doing the best he can." he says standing up for him while not present.

Gotro is silent at Droh's unforeseen outburst, "Quite. Have you checked the crates in the cargo bay yet?"

Olic nods to him, "Yes sir, they contain what looks like scroll manuals with information in them, not much use really."

"Mm, what about you Droh? Did you find anything of use?"

Droh shakes his head, "I haven't." he says before hearing a noise coming from his helmet, "Excuse me." and leaves.

Olic stands up, "We're taking too long Captain, have you located the fleet?"

"I'm using these computers to find them. It shouldn't be long now." he looks at Gotro, "What are so worried about? Everything is going as planned, things will be put the way they should be."

Olic nods, "I know. Listen, can I get some rest?" a nod gets Olic the permission to leave. Heading towards the door he is startled by the presence of Zeki entering the room and looking at the boy. Olic scurries pass the superior officer as she faces the captain.

"Your new bitch, Gotro?" she asks him referring to Olic.

Gotro isn't amused as he switches off the consoles and waits for his commander to stand in front of his desk. She stands tall as he gets up and walks around and behind her and begins massaging her shoulders. "Why won't you be my wife Zeki?" he asks her.

Zeki is cringing as feel what she thinks his an erection against her buttocks, "Because you fucking bastard half the time and I only let you do this because you have a nice touch." she says in harshest tone possible.

"I wouldn't say that I am that bad." he presses her shoulders and she moves with a sign comfort enjoying it, "I bet you beautiful underneath that suit."

"Thank you, like you haven't said that to all the girls. Especially the young ones." she says turning her head away from him.

Gotro stops, "What is that meant to mean?"

"I'm not the only women who you've take a keen interest in. I know what you've been doing, daddy." she says to him turning around.

Gotro steps back, "What?"

"I use wonder why you were giving so much special treatment to Xera and now I know why. You're fucking disgusting, having sex with young girls." she shouts, hoping for someone to hear.

He reacts rashly and hits her in the stomach winding her and shoves her on the bed. Lying on her front she feels Gotro's groin against her behind and pinning her hands down, "I don't like accusations Zeki. Explain yourself. NOW!"

"Xera! She's pregnant!"

He gets up in shock, "What? Who told you this?"

"The asari, she is a doctor." Zeki informs her.

Gotro leans on his desk in shock of this revelation, "Who knows about this?"

Zeki stands up holding her stomach, "You, me and the asari."

"Don't tell anyone on the ship, that's an order." he says pointing to the door and watching the female walking out of the room trying not to show the pain Gotro has caused her.

Rhea is still in the medical ward of the quarian ship, the Xun-Xun and watches from the other side of the room as Xera sits on the bed and holds her stomach taking in the news that she is pregnant and is still a 'child' of sorts. Looking down in shame and knowing that her life has changed forever she becomes very distraught and Rhea sits next to her and lets her rest her head on her shoulder knowing that she needs someone.

Tyon is still in the room and Saan is assisting him in doing his job and monitoring the suits using his Omni-tool. Both Tyon and Rhea had problems with their 'relationships' with other people but Xera now had a similar situation, only hers was the most apparent and more important of the three. Tyon finishes with suits and both he and Saan approach Rhea.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I have finished with what you've asked."

"And? What did you find?" Rhea asks with interest.

"Their suits systems were either overloaded or shutdown. I don't understand how though only the wearer has control of those systems?"

"Is their anyway of hacking into one?"

"Only by the person who makes the suits." Tyon informs, "Listen, I need to get back to the other ship."

"Oh, sure." she says forgetting that he has work of his own to do. However her curiosity gets the best of her as she exit's the room and taps the shoulder of Tyon, "Excuse me, can I ask you something?"

Tyon is a bit startled, "Sure, what is it? I can't really help you much more."

Rhea pulls Tyon aside, "Listen, you said to me that you spoke to Krieg, is he okay?"

"He is fine, he was working on the ship last time I saw him." he informs him.

"Okay, that's good." she says relieved, "You said he was a good guy, what did you mean by that?"

Tyon isn't going to divulge his personal life to another so keeps it simple, "Well, we were talking about love. I love someone in our crew and am not allowed to really. He's a good person to talk to, and he understands me."

"How?" Rhea wanders.

"Well he said he knows how I feel, about loving someone I guess he meant. Goodbye." Tyon head down the hallway leaving Rhea to ponder on what Krieg said to him.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker looks at Rhea smiling at what she just told him looking like a girl with crush. "You were smitten for him weren't you?"

She nods and puts her arms behind her while she continues leaning against the wall, "He was charming I'll admit, in a geeky like way."

"What about Thalian? Didn't you love him?" Joker inquires and aware that he only died a year before these events.

"Of course I loved Thalian, he was major part of my life at the time." she sighs in guilt, "But he was dead."

Joker looks at her unimpressed, "You know in my species that would be seen as a quick rebound."

"I know it seems a bit odd that I should be attracted to another person but doesn't mean that I didn't have to feel guilty for it." she states to him, "I'm not the only one who has had a crush on someone else while in a relationship."

Joker looks away in guilt though doesn't expand on her point, "What about these two gay guys on the flotilla?" he asks referring to Droh and Tyon.

"I think it's cute, two guys fall in love and then are forbidden to love because of social conventions. Homosexuals are still frowned upon in this time, as an asari I know as being with another asari is not just seen as not helping the genetic advancement of my race, but seen as a controversial relationship as well."

"What do you mean?"

"Asari that are openly a couple are ridiculed by many and many still believe that they don't do anything to advance the race while most asari may have had sex with another asari at least once, normally their first time." she admits showing a parallel, "We are no different to gay people in that sense."

"Sounds like a male member of any races dream, that what it is." he smiles when thinking about two asari having sex.

"You humans like sex a lot don't you? Talking about, doing it, even the thought makes you horny?" she says looking at Joker groan trying to see if Joker can control what's beneath.

"I resent that, you just admitted that asari have sex with other asari. To most that would be a dream come true." Joker implies.

Rhea chuckles at the fact, "Well I'll admit I've had my fair share."

Joker smiles and nods, "Nice. So who was it?"

Joker doesn't know about her encounter with Delphine where Rhea was sedated and took advantage of but doesn't want to reveal such truth. She does however have an answer, "Well, my first was my best friend on Thessia. We went to school together and we grew up together." she thinks back, "But after a while, we abandoned the idea of having a relationship."

"Why?"

"My mother, if people knew that a well-respected attorney had a daughter that was in a relationship with another one of her kind. Consider the talk." she points out.

Joker nods in agreement, "Our own race can be like that sometimes."

"And no race is different in that sense. Despite being in those suits, quarians can have many kinds of lives."…

**22/05/2158- MSV Angel, Perseus Veil**

Krieg sits in the engine room beneath the dozens of quarians drinking fresh water that was on their ship. He has nothing to do but smoke a cigar that he had on him at the time though the presence of the smoke is annoying Tyon who was sitting down also who is working still on the engine via his Omni-tool. He watches the grey alien as he breaths the smoke in causing the ash end to light orange around the sides.

Krieg does this a few times letting out the smoke each time and causing the air within the room to become cloudy. Tyon brings up a screen while on his Omni-tool, showing the whole MSV Angel's states and using a holographic image to show the ship and its current status. The ship is blue apart from a few parts which were purple indicating that they were either minor damage or repairing.

"Well, the ship should work in a day or two as soon as we take the FTL drive off our old ship." he says in a negative tone.

"You don't sound happy." Krieg states taking another smoke.

"I went to the medical bay earlier, and saw the marines." he states not knowing what Gotro may have done to them, "They're really sick."

"With what?" Krieg asks keeping interested.

"Well their protection systems were shut down and they've caught a cold, the colds developed into sickness, then a virus." he looks at Krieg, "The same virus that killed Droh's wife."

Krieg rises an eyebrow knowing something doesn't add up, "Coincidence?"

"I'm not sure; even I cannot shutdown systems like that." Tyon admits.

Krieg thinks to himself for a second, "Tell me, do marines have access to such technology?"

"No, suit makers are only real experts." he then left his head, "Shit, why didn't I realize it before."

The grey alien sits back, "Realize what?"

He continues, "Captain Gotro, before he was captain he was an engineer and did suit repair."

"I thought he was a marine?" Krieg asked knowing Captain's needed military experience to lead a crew.

"No, before the Captain died he was Second-in-command and head-engineer, I worked with him." Tyon admits.

"What did he do before that?"

"He wouldn't say, said that if he did the Captain would kill him."

Krieg eyes widen, "Would kill him? That doesn't sound right."

Tyon gets up and leans on the nearby wall, "Well, I believed that too but I remember when I first came to the Xun-Xun from my Pilgrimage. The captains said don't ask Gotro too many questions. I asked around about him to friends, you know in a general manner and one mentioned something about the Zero-Core."

Krieg takes another smoke of his cigar, "Zero-Core, what's that all about?"

He sighs to himself, "I don't believe it. It's just a rumour."

Krieg isn't convinced, "Rumour, you know of this Core then?"

Tyon turns to face him, "The Zero-Core is a branch of the Marines that normally work alone, outside the Flotilla."

"Like Spectres?" Krieg compares.

"Sort of, and like them all knowledge of them is classified by the Admiralty Bored." Tyon informs.

"So you don't know who is in the core?"

Tyon shakes his head, "It's all kept quiet but people believe that Gotro was a marine with this branch. When the Captain was killed, his natural knowledge of not just the ship but order and ability to lead came to life and people rallied behind him."

Krieg smirks and taking another smoke, "More than just an engineer?"

"Quite. When the captain died, some of the more loyal Marines didn't like it and planned to kill Gotro. They failed and he took the helm. We couldn't locate the rest of the fleet however and after a while some began to doubt what he was doing, using selective rationing, and asserting emergency order sanctions. When Gotro was in charge there were a few Marines that thought that they could take over the role."

"Then why didn't they?"

"The people, including myself believed in Gotro and with our backing they couldn't compete. All those marines were the ones on the beds in the medical bay." the quarian reveals putting the pieces together. "Of course, that could explain why there were specific cases and not an epidemic on the ship."

"So Gotro finds a way to shut down their system's in their suits and has total control of the crew's psyche."

Tyon nods, "And the scientists, maybe he suspected a mutiny. Ever since they went in comas he has been on edge, many thought that taking this ship was a bad idea. Krieg, whatever Gotro is up to, from what I have seen, it isn't good."

"I need to get to that other ship." Krieg says standing up and blowing some smokes from his mouth.

On that other ship Rhea stands opposite Xera once again and has her arms crossed. She isn't angry at the young quarian but concerned as the news of her pregnancy will affect her life greatly in physical and social standards and Rhea doesn't know the conventions of quarian pregnancy but know that biologically it is the same as every other race, from conception to birth.

Zeki is also back in the room after her confrontation with Gotro revealing the news and accusing the captain of fathering the child of the young female though she hasn't revealed this to her friend as she puts her arms around her and comforts her in a motherly like fashion.

Saan is also in the room and is standing silently by the sink though she hasn't been told but has caught on to what's going on. The marines and scientists on the beds are currently still resting though their conditions are steady compared to before.

"Commander, how does this effect things?" Rhea asks getting the elder females attention.

She looks down, "I'm not sure, this never usually happens. We normally think about children after our pilgrimages."

"Will Xera be able to go on pilgrimage?" Rhea walks to the sink and washes her hands.

Zeki shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know, her mother doesn't know and her father is dead now, but the other option is abortion which is too risky on the part of the mother catching disease."

"Maybe Gotro can help?" Rhea puts forward despite him being who he is.

Zeki sneers at the name, "Gotro's won't want anything to do with it."

Xera turns in surprise, "Gotro has been nice to me, Zeki. He'll look after me?"

Zeki shakes her head not convinced, "Listen, Xera. Gotro's done enough damage, trust me."

"Trust me, Xera." Gotro says appearing in the doorway of the medical bay seeing Rhea give a cold look along with Saan and Zeki under their helmets. Xera gets up and runs into the arms of Gotro, who reluctantly embraces as the sound her crying makes the image pleasant, "It's okay, it's okay, I'm here." he says.

"I'm scared Gotro, I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"Hey, don't worry, we'll find a way to sort this out, okay." he releases her and looks at her in the eye still holding her arms, "Go get yourself on the other ship." he orders as she leaves the scene.

Zeki stands tall hoping not repeat the same incident that happened earlier, "You have a lot of nerve being here."

"This is my ship, or was my ship. We're almost ready to leave. I thought I would take another look at the place." he says looking at one of the marines on the beds. "It shame that some people aren't going to make it."

Both Rhea and Saan watch as Zeki stands in front of him, "What are you doing Gotro? This isn't funny."

"You've been difficult since the Captain died. I've leaded this crew and gave them hope in his absence but you continue to be hostile to me." he says in a heartbroken tone to the female walking to her.

"You were the Captain's second, but you wanted to be captain!" she states and pulls her pistol out and points it at him, "You killed him."

At this time a marine walks by and sees Zeki with the gun pointed at the captain's face. Obeying his captain he points his rifle at Zeki, now a traitor to the ship. Gotro laughs at accusation, "What happened to the captain was 'most unfortunate' but he brought it on himself. Zeki, you have one last chance. Put the gun down or face the consequences of your actions."

"Try me." she says with confidence.

Gotro sees the Zeki's finger tensing and acts. With little time on his side he manages grab the wrist of her hand directing the shot towards Rhea's direction and just missing the asari diving out of the way and taking Saan down with her, covering the young quarian for protection. His grip causes Zeki to let go of her weapon not realizing the strength of the captain when she floors to her knees in defeat. "You know so little about me, Zeki. I've done things that you couldn't comprehend to get this far in life. This is your last chance to not be the fool you've been treated for?" he asks one more time.

"Fuck you Gotro'Galiv, you fucking bos'chet!" she sticks to her opinion.

Gotro turns and let's go in disbelief but Zeki is still weakened, "I have showed you the most affection I can. Why won't you return any real emotion to me? I'm here for you just as much as the next quarian. I am you friend Zeki, not your enemy."

Zeki looks up to him with no fear, "Do you think the way you've treated Xera that I would waste a single breath on you? You hitting me earlier only made me hate you more." she says to him with bitterness and hatred.

"I wouldn't know what you mean?" he replies only fuelling the hatred of the female. He turns to the marine, "You! Take her to the cells downstairs! We'll leave her there for a while to cool down."

The marine nods and points his rifle to Zeki as she stands on her feet and is reluctantly escorted out of the medical bay.

Gotro turns to the only other mature women in the room, Rhea and approaches her though she is currently holding Saan who is scared of the captain, "You know you still have a chance at life. I don't know about your friend, but I would certainly keep you safe." he trails his finger down her shoulder which makes her shiver like Zeki did.

"You can't have Zeki so you'll just move onto me?" she looks at the captain uninterested in his feeble advance.

He laughs, "I've tried with Zeki. She'll never come around despite what 'I' intended her to do. Like these marines who challenged me here, she won't survive the accident."

Saan holds her tight while Rhea looks at Gotro with an expression that implied he was insane, "Accident? By the Goddess, you've sabotaged the ship."

"It was the only way I could convince my crew that stealing your ship was okay." he reveals.

She looks at the other patients "And these marines and scientists here, did you sabotage their suits?"

"You catch on quick. Though my job on this vessel was that of an engineer it was my previous occupation that gave me insight on our true weaknesses." he says with reluctance.

Rhea continues to hold Saan, "Care to explain?"

"Not really, I fear I might be wasting your time." he says with humour in mind, "And you don't have much of that left." Gotro laughs as he takes a grip of Rhea's shoulder and keeps it there. She feels a shockwave channel through her body with her muscles going numb and she falls to the ground. Gotro turns to Saan goes face to face, she scared of him and watches as she tries to run away but is stopped by an entering Olic with rifle in hand, being just behind the corner the whole time. "Take her back to her cell with Zeki, we'll come for her later." he orders him as the younger quarian grabs her by the arm and pulls her down the hallway away while she struggles and screams.

Gotro pulls out his shotgun and points it to one of the marines turning his head away as he pulls the trigger and the thermal shell blasts into the helmet of the marine. Rhea can't do anything but hear the sound of the shells being fired.


	18. Masquerade: Part III

**Chapter XVIII: Masquerade: Part III**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

It has been a few hours and Joker is sitting at the table in the kitchen once again eating his dinner with a knife and fork and still wearing his casual clothes consisting of his Cerberus cap,grey and black shirt and pants and boots.

Rhea sits on the opposite end of the table and is eating the same meal as the food on the menu is a slice of beef with a side of vegetables. Joker cuts up one of the potatoes and drips it in the gravy moistening the food as he puts it in his mouth and chews the soft carbs. Rhea is wearing heeled boots with blue combat pants and tank top, changing again but better than a dressing gown. The great silence in the room only reflects the pair's mood at the moment as Joker is still angry though his tongue and manner have subsided to content while Rhea is full of apologies to the human knowing her deception was wrong but the means were meant to justify this end, but the means are still vague.

Rhea looks up to Joker who is concentrating on this food, "Meat not too well done?"

The human looks up towards the asari, "No, no it's good. You can cook well."

She smiles, "Thanks. When humans first came here to the Citadel, the first thing I knew they would bring was their food."

"What did you try first?" Joker asks wondering what caught her taste.

"Well on the Angel the first food I ate was sushi." she says eating a vegetable.

He swallows a bit of meat before asking further, "What made you pick that?"

"I don't know, I guess it was because you didn't have to wait for it." she remember fondly of that moment, "It was an odd time in my life."

"Even odder than Krieg, Gotro and him seizing your ship?" he raises his eyebrows.

Rhea gives a bit of laugh, "Well, Krieg was an oddity in life. Only one of his kind."

Joker continues to eat but not before he asks, "Rhea, what drew you to Krieg? Really?"

Rhea thinks back hard to when they first met, "Well I guess that he didn't kill me for starters. He killed everyone but me and Fayla, though he left her naked chained to a bed. Kinky." she says with the fork in her mouth.

He puts his culinary down, "And even when he was a fucking douche to you during that time, you still stuck by him?"

Rhea pauses for a minute and thinks back to 2158 and smiles and is ready to carry on her story, "I did."…

**23/05/2158- MSV Angel, Perseus Veil**

A whole day has passed since Gotro stunned Rhea and his massacre within the medical bay. The dominant male holds his shotgun while he watches six of his marines carry parts of the FTL drive on a cart through the main space due to the weight and size of the objects. He leads them into the upper parts of the ship and points to his right where Rhea's room was and the group places them all next to the medical table where Krieg lay for three months.

Olic, one of the young male marines who hasn't gone of his pilgrimage yet stands in the doorway and watches the Captain as he inspects each piece of machinery for himself checking for any possible damage it may have sustained.

While the marines tinker with their toy, Tyon the engineer watches from a crate near the panel where he and Krieg have been repairing the engine exhausts. He walks slowly through the crowd of quarians spread out across the cargo hold of the ship and towards the front reaching his head over towards where Gotro took the FTL drive and sees this as an opportunity to walk towards the cockpit.

He looks over to the helm's chair where there were two small ear-pieces next to Krieg's ashtray on the armrest. He takes the two of them and quickly walks out of the more marine-populated area of the ship back to his original place. Opening the panel beneath him and jumping down to find Krieg sitting down with his torso armour back on suspecting that he will see some action.

"I've got them!" the quarian says holding them in his hand.

Krieg takes one and attaches it to the opening where he can hear, not an ear but a hearing organ none the less, "Thanks."

"What now?" Tyon asks him exited.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Listen, I need you to get this to Rhea, the asari. When you give it to her say that 'He's Online'." Krieg states giving specific instructions to him, "Have you had a good look at the other ship?"

"Yes, the medical bay is in ruins. Blood is everywhere after the 'Zeki's betrayal' bullshit Gotro said to us late yesterday. I took a look when we were removing the FTL drive. Rhea wasn't there." Tyon informs.

Krieg sighs in relief, "Do you know where they would take her?"

"Most likely the store rooms, they have been converted into cells." he answers.

The grey alien press a button on his ear-piece, "Okay, Tyon I'm counting on you. If you don't want to do this-?"

"No, I want this. I don't trust Gotro anymore, I fear for my safety and Droh's let alone the rest of the fleet." Tyon states climbing back up towards the main cargo hold.

The male quarian looks around the room once again to see the dozens of quarians but no marines, who were still being talked to by Gotro. One marine however isn't within Gotro's circle and it was someone more familiar to Tyon as Droh leans on some crates minding his own business. Krieg found out through Tyon that these two quarians had a loving relationship at one point but Droh had gotten together with a female partner when Tyon was posted on the Xun-Xun. Droh stands there and watches his former lover slowly walk past a few families and head towards the back of the ship much to the older quarian's suspicion as walking up to the cockpit was seen out of character as well.

While Krieg initiates his master plan to get in contact with Rhea, the asari herself is still lying on the crate where she is holding her head from the stun that Gotro gave through his hand and its origin was still unknown to her. She remains in the same attire she wore when Krieg woke up to her a few days ago, a standard medical outfit.

Both Zeki and Saan are in the room with her only this time it is Saan treating Rhea as she stands by her side and keeps watch while the older more experienced quarian continues to walk up and down in frustration as she has now twice been hit by the captain.

Despite being an asari, the two quarains have been worse treated in the past few days. Zeki watches as Saan takes Rhea's hand and brings it to her side trying to get her to relax, though the sight of Gotro killing those members of the crew brought up bad memories, in particular the massacre Krieg caused on the Eclipse ship years before.

"Thanks Saan, you've been great." she smiles at the younger quarian.

Saan nods in thanks, "Happy to help Rhea, sorry you got hurt."

"She's a big girl, she can handle it." Zeki says having not much sympathy, "So, Gotro killed the sick marines did he?"

Rhea remembers the moment, "He did. I can't believe it. They couldn't even defend themselves, I couldn't do anything."

"No you couldn't, so don't beat yourself up about it." Zeki stops leaning and looks up to the top of the door, "We need to get out of here."

Rhea lifts her head a little, "You don't care that you friends were killed."

The quarians turns to face them, "I do care, but I don't want to share their fate." and turns back to the door.

Rhea looks at Saan, "Are you okay, Saan?"

Saan sits on the crate next to Rhea, "Sort of, but I'm scared."

Rhea sits up and puts an arm around the young quarian, "I'm scared too."

She rests her shoulder on hers, "I worried for Mual as well, he is in that cell all alone." she says remembering her mute friend.

"He'll be fine, Saan." the asari continues to rub her back.

She sighs, "You know, I tried talking to him for weeks and he didn't say anything to me, I felt so sorry for him."

Rhea remembers treating his arm, "Did you talk before, before you know…he stopped talking?"

She shakes her head, "Not much."

"No, Mual was never much of a talker. He has a condition that affected his voice box. Anyway he was thinker, a puzzle solver." Zeki says as she feels the door for weaknesses, "He is however valuable to the crew."

Rhea turns her head to Zeki, "Why would you say that?"

Zeki bangs the door in frustration, "Mual is strange in that sense of not talking. But he is one of the few teens on the ship who actually showed interest in learning the tricks of trade here on the ship, much to the dismay of the other boys and girls."

"Not many people understood him that well because he couldn't talk, Olic used to give a hard time." Saan says remembering back when.

"Did Olic break his arm?" Rhea asks hoping that it would be the cause to this mystery.

Saan turns to Zeki hoping for an answer, "Mual had apparently been caught hacking into the Captain's…or Gotro's terminal and downloading files. I don't how he managed to breakthrough but he was caught by Olic."

"And you didn't stop him?" Saan is annoyed with Zeki's deception.

She puts her hands up, "It was done before we could do anything. Mual's arm was broken during the incident. Putting Mual in cells was first time that I had my suspicions of Gotro. He wouldn't have normally let something like this happen. He liked Mual for starters."

Rhea gets on her feet and holds her head still feeling dazed from the shock, "Whoa. My head." Saan tries to keep her on balance, "Listen, what's done is done. Have you found a way out of here?"

Zeki shakes her head and turns to the door scanning it from top to bottom, "No, the door is sealed tight. I don't think anyone is on the other side either, they must be all on the other ship by now."

"Well at least we have a chance with this ship." Rhea says staying positive.

Zeki sighs while shaking her head again, "I don't think so, I remember hearing about removing the FTL drive and a plan to sell it to another ship, so we would be stuck here in the Veil. And there is more too worry about here than Gotro." Zeki says referring to the infamous geth.

Rhea thinks to herself, "Strange, I'm surprised the Geth haven't attacked either of us yet. Our ship has been in this part of space for a while and we haven't had any trouble, well until you guys attacked us."

A loud bang can be heard on the other side of the door and a male voice shouts, "Hey bitches, keep quiet!"

Zeki moves next to Rhea and whispers, "We need to get out of here." there is a pause before she continues, "Wait, your pistol?"

"My pistol?" Rhea says thinking about the piece that Rhodius gave to her, "What about my pistol?"

Zeki paces up and down, "When we boarded your ship and you dropped your pistol, I was the one who took it. I placed it in a safe place here before we were to leave and I would have taken it with me."

"Where did you put it?"

"I put it in crate in the engine room below near where the Captain died. I hid both the piece and some of those clips with it. We need to get there." she says as they both begin scanning the door and attempt to open it.

Tyon is continuing his quest in getting to Rhea but hasn't gotten very far as he is currently trying to hack into the door which links from the Xun-Xun to the human ship. The console was quarian being a small terminal placed next to the door with wires connected to an open panel by the side. The code he is deciphering is in quarian though the code was so difficult and he was having frustration with it showing that Gotro didn't want other people heading back there without his permission.

While he continues to break Gotro's law, one of the law-bringers was standing with his back to the corner and catching him in the act. It was Droh, who followed his suspicions and despite Tyon confession of their history with Krieg he had his pistol in his hand and turns the corner walks down the few steps slowly so Tyon doesn't hear. Droh looks behind him at the doors loc, knowing another way he would prefer to confront his former lover. He walks slowly to the door lock and presses it the sound of shutting stalls Tyon as he turns around to see Droh with his pistol in hand.

"Droh, I know what you're thinking?" Tyon says with his hand still on the console.

"You are breaking into the other ship." Droh observes while tiling his head.

Tyon turns and look at the door, "I left some things in there. I wanted to get them back before we abandoned it."

"You were always a bad liar, Tyon. I know that better than anyone." Droh takes a few steps forward but still has his pistol on standby, "What are you really doing?"

"I can't tell you." Tyon ensures him and takes a step back cobbling but keeping up.

Droh's muscles tighten and his suit shows it making him more intimidating, "Does it have something to do with freak in the engine room?"

"Why? Are you jealous?" he answers with a question that would automatically annoy Droh.

He breathes out in frustration "Shut up and answer the question?"

Tyon lets Droh get closes, "I need to get to the asari. Krieg wants to contact her."

The quarian is taken aback with this treachery, "Out of the question Tyon, she a prisoner of the captain now."

He looks at him in the eye his showing disappointment, "What's happened to you? This isn't you. You wouldn't let someone like Gotro order you about like this."

Droh laughs a little about the truth of that, "You seemed happy to, until now. What's going on? I won't ask you again Tyon."

Tyon looks down and knows that he can't lie to man he loves as looks down in shame, "Please Droh, I'm doing this for you, more you than you know. Please let me do this."

Droh uses his hand to raise Tyon chin and looks into his eyes opening himself up for a long waited embrace from the younger quarian, "I'm sorry…friend." he says as he hits him in the stomach, winding him. He follows this with a palm to the back of helmet which is a technique that knocks the quarian out if done correctly, "I can't lose you too." he says thinking of his wife as he puts his pistol in its holster. He uses his arms to lift Tyon and carry him over his back. He walks to the door leading to the main cargo hold and presses the button opening the doors and turns the corner and doesn't notice that Tyon dropped the earpiece that he was meant to give Rhea.

Since Droh confronted Tyon, the marines have been dismissed and Olic and two other quarians have begun rummaging through some of the crates in the far corner of the cargo bay. Quarians are opportunist by nature and these were no different as they pick the spoils of their conquest. Olic has more luck than the others as they seem to have nothing but books but in his crate he looks at the artefacts and one catches his eye among others. It was a machete, a tool from earth that had many uses but to this quaria, it was just merely a weapon as he pulls it out from its sheaf and admires the factor-made craft.

"Beautiful." he says and puts it back in the case. He watches as he sees Droh struggling to carry Tyon and is walking nearby placing Tyon on a few raised crates and approaches him. He walks up to Droh and looks at Tyon, "What was he doing?"

Droh thinks to himself a good excuse, "He was sleeping in the back of the ship. I guess he wanted some peace after fixing it."

Olic looks at the engineer none the wiser about the relationship between the two, "Okay. Hey, the Captain wants to see you."

"What does he want now?" Droh ask in an annoyed tone.

The younger quarian shrugs, "I don't know, seemed important though."

Droh nods as he watches Olic get back to his rummaging and begins to feel nerves as he heads to the front of the ship. What Tyon had to say obviously affected him giving their history and there was no one he could probably trust him more compared to the captain. While he thinks of Gotro he has the pleasure of seeing him within Krieg's room or the captain's cabin as it is now known.

When he enters he sees a peculiar sight as sitting on the bed is Xera who has recently discovered the news that she is pregnant though only she, Zeki, Saan, Rhea and Gotro himself know the truth of Xera's condition. Gotro is crouched in front of her and the end of whisper can be heard before he stands up and sees Droh in front of him. The Captain looks at Xera and she nods and she gets up and walking past the other male in a confused and afraid manner as she shuts the door behind her leaving the two most senior of quarians alone.

"Is she okay?" Droh asks concerned for one of his kind.

Gotro sits on his desk, "She's okay. She just needs rest."

"What was she doing here?" he asks his captain suspiciously.

"She is sick and wanted reassurance of our return to the fleet." Gotro says obviously lying to him.

Droh nods, "Olic said that you wanted to see me?"

The captain leans up, "Yes, you are aware that Zeki betrayed us. She tried to kill me?" he lies once again as he defeated her with ease.

Droh remains silent for second, "I heard. I can't believe Zeki would do that. She killed everyone in the medical bay?"

"She did, it's a shame because I know that you two were good friends." Gotro states looking at his hand, "But despite this treachery I would prefer to make alterations to truth."

Droh walks towards INC still lying on Gotro's bed, "You mean lie, to the Admiralty Board?"

Gotro nods, "If the Board knows what has happened here, then there will be the biggest posthumous exiling on record and I will not have this crew have a stigma attached to them."

The quarian sighs in disagreement, "You would lie for the sake of traitors? You know, you've done some questionable things in the past few months, from taking leadership, to attacking this ship."

"Our ship was damaged!"

"But everything seem too convenient, I don't know what to believe any more." Droh looks towards the door and noticing the door locked. Knowing that something was about to happen he pulls his pistol out and points it towards Gotro who already has reached Droh's wrist with his hand and sends a shock through it.

"Very convenient. Traitor!" Gotro causes Droh to fall to his knees still sending a shock through him.

"You…fucking…"

"Please… your 'hard man' attitude is so transparent as well as your affection for the engineer." he gives a bit of a laugh. He drops Droh when he knows that the shock has knocked him our cold and the quarian lies in front of him motionless. Gotro isn't finished as he looks towards the bed next to INC and sees the rope that he kept and uses it to tie Droh's hands behind his back keeping him subdued.

"Captain, Captain!" a sound can be heard coming from the console.

Gotro heads straight the console and opens the channel, "This you Captain, what is it Olic?"

"We've just been where Droh has and we found what looks like an earpiece. There is no response on the other end but I think Krieg has one as well."

Gotro shakes his head in frustration, "He is up to something. We must act soon; bring every marine to my quarters, immediately."

"Yes, Captain." Olic obeys and cuts the channel.

On the Xun-Xun there is no one in the dark gloomy hallway guarding the cells now as the crew of the quarian ship are ready to head through the relay and abandon this ship in exchange for Rhea's and Krieg's, both of which are trapped on opposite ships. Rhea and Zeki are still scanning the door while Saan sits on the crates. The two women are both frustrated now as the door is sealed tight incidentally sealing their fates within this small confided space. Zeki leaves the door and heads over back to Saan and sits next to her in frustration as the young quarian but her hand on the adult's shoulde, she taking her hand with her hand further away for Saan in comfort.

"This is hopeless. If I had a pistol, I could shoot our way out. If my Omni-tool wasn't jammed, I could hack my way out-"

"Quit it!" Rhea says annoyed at the negative vibe in the room, "My biotics may be able to open the door."

Zeki laughs sarcastically, "Please. That door has been rebuilt to be stronger a dozen times, it is impossible."

"Just let me try." Rhea says taking a few steps back and placing her right hand in front of her, her palm facing the door. Taking a few breaths to get her composure while she puts her training to the test as this was the first lesson she was taught, moving a still object and in this case it was the door.

With focus she begins to take grip and blue aura surround the door making the two quarian look in awe as the youngest hasn't seen what to her is magic while to Zeki it is interesting to see biotics in action. The door doesn't move but there are sounds of unhinging but the weight and the locking of the door is causing severe draining on Rhea's power as her facial expression is one of whom is struggling unlike a matriarch wouldn't underestimate quarian engineering.

"Arrrhh!" Rhea screams as she channels more energy into her effort and the door begins to shake. The two get up and begin to support her by keeping her up right. A few more seconds and then she half-faints though has her eyes open she gasps for breath and feels light headed.

"You were doing well." Zeki compliments smiling under her mask. A few seconds later and she turns when the sound of the door opening behind her.

Saan shouts in joy, "You did it?"

"Thank the goddess." Rhea sighs in relief while she is helped onto the crate not before the quarian guarding the cells has returned just in time. He turns to see the trio and points his shotgun at them. Rhea uses what's left in her to bring the door back down, taking the male by surprise and landing on its head breaking the helmet and the insides instantly as he lay on the ground motionless. Saan buries her head in Rhea's stomach in response.

The elder quarian tries to make eye contact with the dazed Rhea, "Listen, we need to get to the other ship. We may still have a chance."

"What about other weapons, Gotro took them for his soldiers?" Rhea asks trying to stay focused.

"We can improvise; we should head to the engine room before we attempt anything stupid." Zeki instructs as she takes the shotgun from the dead body.

"I think doing something stupid is all we have. Listen you go ahead and get my gun, I need a minute." Rhea says holding her head.

Zeki looks outside seeing her chance, "I can't leave you here. You're not steady."

"I can handle myself. I'll try and get the others out of their cells." Rhea ensures.

The elder quarian sighs, "Okay, we won't be long. Come on, Saan." she orders grabbing her by the hand and leading her out of the cell and leaving the asari alone.

Rhea rests up for a few minutes before she stumbles her way to the door and looks both ways to see if the coast is clear. She knows that there are people within the cells as her successful attempt to open the door would catch the ears of those inside and voices can be heard as she walks to the opposite cell and presses the open button.

The asari is startled by the sight of Mual right in front of her as she opens the door, the young male despite being mute gives a surprisingly full presence and catches her. He keeps her on her feet and positioning her to lean on the door way while heads down the hall and begins overriding door at a pace. The first person he lets out is a female wearing a red and white suit and from the quality it is worn, showing age compared to the young quarian freeing her.

She walks up to him and hugs him but being careful of her arm, "Mual, you're okay. Help get everyone else out of the storerooms." she orders showing authority. She looks and sees the dazed asari and approaches her, "I take it you are an ally?"

"If I was put in one of those cells, obviously." Rhea answers.

"My name is Tiaz'Frytus, wife of the Captain." she states revealing her position.

Rhea looks at her with confusion, "You're Gotro's wife?"

Tiaz stands offended by this untruth, "No, I am the now deceased Captain Frytus's wife. Gotro is not the captain of this ship and never will be." she states.

Rhea gets her head together and stands straight, "Sorry if I offended you." she looks over her shoulder, "How many of you are there?"

"Thirteen, the undesirables of the ship." she looks around the group and sees that someone is missing, "Xera, where is my daughter Xera?"

Rhea remembers who Xera was, the pregnant quarian who has yet to go on her pilgrimage, "She is on the other ship with the rest of them."

They both turn to see them once again joined by both Zeki and Saan, the former handing the pistol and the clips to Rhea before turning to Tiaz, "Ma'am."

"Zeki, what happened?"

"I failed the ship Ma'am, I began to question Gotro and his recent actions and he turned on him." she admits in shame.

Tiaz puts her hand on her shoulder, "I don't blame you. That Bosh'tet will be dealt with soon. If I am correct, the asari's successful break out and the doors of all these cells opening will get to Gotro soon, so we need to leave now. Are these two weapons all we have?"

Rhea nods, "Looks like it, we need to get to the link on the sixth floor but with Gotro there, we'll need safer passage across to the Angel."

Zeki looks behind her at the stairwell and back at the elevator, "I have an idea."

Back in Krieg's bedroom or Gotro's office he stands behind his desk while leans on it with his hands. Droh is nowhere to be seen but he is now a prisoner of the fake Captain as he looks at the two dozen marines that stand in his office, including Olic. He is the only one who has an assault rifle, while everyone else hold either Siletto pistols or Tornado shotguns, both made by Haliat Armoury. They look at their leader with loyalty and are prepared for orders as he stands tall.

"Men, we have a problem. My console indicates that one of the cells within the lower decks has been opened. The people occupying that cell were Saan the girl, the asari and the former Commander, Zeki who we were going to bring on the ship later. However this breakout indicates her unfortunate turn and I will be sending half of you to the other ship with the task of eliminating everyone on board." he split's the group in half leaving twelve. He points two others to walk forward, "You two will watch Droh and Tyon in the other room, go now." he orders and they obey immediately. Olic looks confused as he listens further, "The rest of you will protect the civilians from harm, take points so that they can't move from their position and head into the front of the ship or the rear, understood." They all nod in response and head to their posts.

Gotro leaves with the troops while two guards wait outside of what was Rhea's room. Inside the room are both Droh and Tyon who Gotro now sees as traitors to him. The former lovers are tied together and sit on the floor facing the wall. Droh is awake as he was shocked but not knocked out cold by Gotro. Tyon however is only just awakening with a headache from Droh, who stopped him from reaching Rhea to give her the earpiece.

Droh turns his head to see him, "Well, look at the trouble you got me in. It's almost like old times." he remarks.

Tyon gets his bearings but heard what he has to say, "I thought you told me not to talk about old times." he reminds him.

"I know, for the sake of my relationship." he says regretting what happened to his wife, "How's your head?"

"It's okay, but you sure fucked up the plan we had." Tyon replies.

"You still can't tell me what you were doing?" Droh asks him hoping for a more clear answer this time, "You might as well spill it."

Tyon sighs in agreement, "I needed to get on the ship to give Rhea the earpiece that Olic gave to Gotro, I dropped it when you hit me."

"You were going to defy Gotro? Tyon, you could have gotten hurt!" he says worried.

"I did, by you. I never expected you to betray me like that." he mumbles to himself.

It has caught Droh's attention however, "Betray you! Now you've told me what you were doing, I know now that I saved you."

"Thanks." a sarcastic Tyon says before remaining silent for a few seconds before being caught off guard with a question.

"Why were you doing it for me?" he asks not getting an answer. He questions further, "You said that you were doing it for me, why?"

Tyon looks down at his feet, "When I was on the other ship I found out that Regulation-System in your fellow marines suits were switched off. According to the asari, Rhea, she said that this may have been the cause of the illness they had, ironic eh?"

Droh sees how that may be possible, "Then why wasn't mine and Zeki's switched off."

"I don't know why Zeki's wasn't, but I think Gotro may have already taken something away from you already." he says pointing the finger at Gotro for the death of Droh's wife.

"No! I know he is manipulative, but he couldn't have done that, could he?" Droh has doubt in his own judgment, "I mean he shocked me with his hand earlier but-"

"Wait, did you say shocked you?"

"Yes, he shocked me and it stunned me to the ground. Come to think of it my nose is blocking up a little."Droh observes sniffing a little.

"That pulse may have disrupted the system, shutting them down." Tyon guesses before he realizes that his theory about Gotro was true, "Oh Droh, I'm sorry."

Droh stays quiet for a few seconds, "I thought you would be happy?"

Tyon turns his head and the shape of his eyes through his mask display anger, "How dare you! You'd really think I was that cruel?"

"What? No its-"

"I may have not liked you with her, but I wouldn't ever wish something like that." Tyon states and is hurt at what Droh has said.

Droh feels guilt and it shows on the outside of his suit, "Tyon, I know when you first came to the ship you were surprised to see me settled here. I am grateful you never told her about us."

Tyon turns his head, "You felt ashamed?"

"Never, I…I just thought what were the odds of you coming to the same ship as me. When you did, I panicked but you were always respectful."

The younger of the two quarian looks at the wall, "I never stopped loving you, you know that?"

Droh remains silent, "I know. When I first met you, I was nearing the end of my pilgrimage."

"I remember, two krogan caught me hacking into their Omni-tools and tried to rip my mask off. You saved me, killed them both."

"We just hit it off, going place to place…then we did it." Droh says thinking fondly of that moment.

Tyon laughs, "I was uncomfortable too with it but I wasn't disappointed. I had a dream you know, that we would have a place on Illium, together and live the rest of our lives away from the Flotilla, away from the trouble."

"We still could." Droh sits up causing Tyon to do the same, "It would take a while but it's possible."

"What about the ship, the crew, your parents?"

"There will be plenty more marines to replace me, I wouldn't worry about the other thing either." He says ending the long and full-hearted conversation with his long term friend as he manages to hold his tied hand.

The dozen marines heading towards the rear end of the ship are ready to enter across thebridge leading to their former home. One of the marines types in a password and the door opens to reveal the long metal inner workings of the quarian bridge. Lit up by lights on the ceiling the qurians all head down the bridge with their shotguns and pistols ready for firing at the survivors.

The shaft itself is about thirty meters long as the unit were nearing the end where they enter a huge square foyer with three entrances, one each side they faced and crates lying all over the place. The door on the right was open to reveal what looked like the stairwell that links all the floors while the left door was shut but the marines knew that it leads to the elevator shaft. The door in front the middle door leads to various compartments of the ship floor. Two of the marines, Olic being one, stand guard at the bridge while five head to the elevator shaft and five head towards the compartments of the current floor.

The squad heading to the elevator press the button and wait for the elevator to come down to them entering upon arrival, they keep their weapons on standby as they press the button for the penultimate lowest floor, the storeroom or cellblocks as they know it. They watch the door open and see a familiar sight of a room with all the doors locked, far from the truth as they had all escaped a while ago but they were aware. Rhea, Saan and Zeki escaped as they see their cell open and no one else and the leader of the squad of four indicated to them to cover a door and prepare their extermination knowing the area was quiet and predicted an ambush.

The leader himself stands in front of a door himself and prepares his pistol. The door opens and before he can pull the trigger a blast of shotgun shells enters his body and he falls to the ground causing his marines to turn to his attention when they see their cells are empty. The four remaining members head towards Zeki, the culprit who has taken cover behind a rearranged set of crates. Not noticing the presence of the asari as the door behind them open and with her pistol ready. Rhea is in a similar position as Zeki, they both open fire together and take down the four with ease and walk out together.

"Not bad." Rhea says referring to Zeki's plan.

"I didn't become a marine because I look sexy with a weapon." she says as few quarians come out from behind where the duo was covered and take their weapons. "Okay listen you guys; you are going to have to kill some of your own if this mission is to be successful, and I know how hard this is going to be for all of us." She looks at the three civilians, two female, a male and young male. She points at the adult male and a female, "You two, we are going up the stairwell to the linking platform and remain there until the others arrive. Rhea, you take these two and take the elevator to the bridge and rendezvous with Tiaz.

"Got it, come on!" she orders heading towards the elevator and enters pressing the button for the top floor while Zeki take the stairwell on the opposite side.

All this time and Krieg knows nothing of what is going on as he sits on the crate and flicks his Zippo lighter open and closes it bored of being stuck in the engine room of the Angel and wished he knew what happened to Tyon and the current status of Rhea. Both were alive at the moment but that doesn't mean that he was okay as he worried for them both greatly hoping that he didn't trust Tyon with too much of a heavy task while for Rhea he wishes he can take back what he said a few days ago and the stress is getting to him as he continues to rub his cheek bones where he has been experiencing pain around.

His trail of thought break as the sound of the panel where the ladder is and jumping down are two of the marines with shotguns pointing at the grey alien. It is at this time that he knows that Tyon failed and Rhea may possibly be in danger or worse though the leader of the opposition is the one he will have the pleasure to confront as Gotro climbs down the ladder and turns to him.

"Here we are Krieg? You know I feel that we have bonded these past few days or at least in a sense."

Krieg smiles and wants to correct, "Bonded? I don't think so."

"Oh, but we have, very much. You see in quarian culture when an outsider is a friend to a member of the crew; they are also seen as a friend of the Captain as well."

Krieg doesn't understand where the conversation is going, "I see?"

"And I think Tyon has a liking for you, mind you, he is the 'selective' type." He says and giving knowledge that he knows of Tyon homosexuality, "You influence lead to his capture." he throws the earpiece that the quarian was carrying at Krieg who now knows he has failed. "Tyon will be the last, along with Droh and Zeki that will try and usurp me from my rightful place."

Krieg sees his chance to pursue the issue, "Why do you deserve to be captain? Out of interest."

"I know what you are doing, Krieg. You're trying to get me to tell you the truth behind my actions, but it's not going to work." Gotro walks to get closer to him, "I gave you the benefit of doubt many times since we've been here, divulging anything would only give you an advantage."

Krieg smiles "Let me guess your plan then. You wanted to be a captain, but you were never given the opportunity. What did they do, stiff you after your service was completed?"

Gotro laughs through his helmet, "Close, for twenty years I acted under the Admiralty Board doing their dirty work. I did more for the Migrant Fleet than these people realize and asked for one simple thing in return."

"And I take it that this rebellion is the response to not getting that?"

Gotro turns, "No. Despite having the greatest fleet in the Galaxy, the Admiralty Board is drowned in politics. I simply wish for something more 'direct' as the times are changing after all."

Krieg analysis's his words, "Changing?"

Gotro continues, "Why should a small collective be responsible for millions when the can put their trust in one who knows the future, one with a vision?"

"You want to lead not just this crew, but the Migrant Fleet? A leader for taking back your homeworld."

Gotro laughs, "Well, I guess you know my plan after all. Not a leader, but 'the' leader. The so-called Board of the fleet cannot lead us to war if they can't decide whether if war is possible, or better yet an option?"

"There's talk of that, its suicide surely?" Krieg believes knowing the geth outnumber them.

Gotro nods, "There is always talk of it, but true. But what if I have discovered the key to destroying them, so to speak?"

"You're bluffing; your people created them and are beyond repairing the damage they caused from what I've heard."

The captain turns away from him, "The geth are unique in most retrospect's, and my job in Zero-Core was gathering intelligence on the Geth. What I found was a revelation to our kind."

Krieg crosses his arms unconvinced, "Amuse me."

Gotro turns around and accesses his Omni-tool, "I once travelled to a world, unnamed and untouched but significant. The Geth were present but unarmed and just stood there. Originally I thought that they were scanning the area and I knew they were intelligent enough to recognize a quarian."

"Is this going somewhere?"

"They didn't attack, I walked up to a geth and looked it straight in the eye and it never struck me down. It was then, all them years ago that I came to my last hypothesis."

"You're a scientist aren't you?" Krieg concludes from what he is saying.

"Indeed, I was the lead professor in Geth Research and my conclusion didn't go down well with the Admiralty Board, who made a unanimous decision to abandon my research, strip my rank, caste me out and even wipe my research from existence."

"And what evidence was that, it must have been controversial enough to get you here?"

"The geth are no different from you or me, they weren't the organic-haters that we quarians know of and also claim they are. Their existence is paradise."

Krieg looks at him with distrust in his words, "You're insane?"

"No Krieg, I am the only sane quarian out of this crew and these marines that are loyal to me know it too. I alone know the secret to take back the homeworld and I intent to do the right way."

"By killing and usurping you own government?"

"A necessary sacrifice .Our goals meet the same end, but unlike them, my means of reaching that goal will be our salvation. The opportunity to realise this couldn't have been missed." Gotro says about to climb back upstairs, "Goodbye Krieg, soon you will die with your friend. Just take comfort that your life was in aid a greater cause." and climbs up and leaving Krieg alone.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker leans on the table and takes a swig of his water which is the beverage he chose instead of alcohol. However Rhea had a glass of wine with her meal and was still finishing while Joker had finished his earlier. He thinks about the whole situation that she and Krieg were in and how the roles were now reversed as Krieg was the one who wasn't in an active role for the first time while Rhea was a commando compared to her former helpless self.

"Gotro sounds like a madman from what you're saying." Joker says taking the quarian's plans into consideration, "He wanted to overthrow the Admiralty Board?"

"Actually when you look at the situation of the Migrant fleet nowadays, his idea doesn't seem so insane." she compliments the enemy showing respect for him. "The quarians regretted the creation of the geth, that's known throughout history as being the curse they will always carry. But it's only a few who read between the lines and the aspect of a synthetic race wanting to better themselves. It makes them feel more organic to me."

"I don't think creating AI's that overthrow their creators really attribute to organic behavior?"

Rhea smiles, "Well rebelling is natural in many cultures, think of what you and Shepard have done. Isn't this a rebellion against a force more powerful than us?"

"But the Reapers know what they want and know how to obtain it, that's what makes them who they are."

"Really? I don't believe that the Reapers are the pinnacle of evolution; in fact I believe that they are the absence of it. Evolution is an on-going process and from the Gotro said, the geth's perspective they are no different. Isn't evolution about aspiring to be better than you are? As a human you have to understand that more than anyone?" she states paralleling what Legion's platform believed.

Joker takes another sip of his water, "I guess I understand, Gotro believed that what he was going to do was for the best of his race and then finally accomplish what the quarians wanted." Joker realizes that Gotro's idealism and morality was no different from Shepard's choice when it came to saving the Council or weakening humanity when Sovereign attacked.

Rhea smiles and nods as she pushes her plate forward showing she has finished her dinner, "Exactly, while we were busy thinking about surviving, Gotro had bigger plans that could've change the course of his people."

"And if he would've succeeded, then the quarians could have gotten their homeworld back by now and they wouldn't have to go on pilgrimages or reframe from eating that paste they do, looks like crap to me." Joker remarks but knows that he couldn't eat it anyway.

Rhea takes a sip of her wine and tastes it before swallowing, "Yeah, it's a shame that quarians are dextro-acid, if they weren't I think their problems would have been over by now and Gotro's actions would never would have occurred."

Joker raises an eyebrow, "Oh, why do you say that?"

"Think back in history, the First Contact War for instance where the turians occupied Shanxi. They had to transport food from their worlds to the colony if the campaign was to be successful; I think that if the turians could have eaten your food, the Alliance wouldn't have been as strong. However the fact you destroyed these ships without knowledge of turian biology makes you lucky."

Joker thinks about how plausible that is as food was one of the key components of the human victory, "And the quarians, how would have they have advantaged from a difference like this?"

Rhea takes another sip, "The quarians have to grow their own food on their own ships, purified and precise otherwise they would either stave or poison themselves. If quarians were levo-acid based they would have been able to buy anything within human or asari cuisine and all they would have to do is purify it, and then eat it."

"I guess that's sounds realistic. What about the quarians from this ship?"

"The Xun-Xun had a ration shortage and a water shortage, Gotro was starving his crew for the sake of his marines and knew what he was doing. He wanted me and Krieg dead because we interfered with his plan." she states lighting a cigarette, "But on Krieg's end things were worse."

"How, he could save the ship or have broken out at any time?"

"Yeah, but he would of compromised everything. Besides, this was my own battle and unlike before, I wasn't waiting for Krieg to save me and that's when things started to shake up."...


	19. Masquerade: Part IV

**Chapter XIX: Masquerade: Part IV **

**23/05/2158- Perseus Veil**

The tables have turned since Gotro's initial plan started as he intended to take the MSV Angel and abandon their worn-down batarian cruiser in the borders of geth space. The synthetics hadn't been seen even though Rhea had been within this area for weeks but they were present and were observing the MSV Angel as it was attached via it starboard rear to the Xun-Xun, a bigger ship but older. This image was one of many that were being processed through the collective while their ship was approaching the relay with intention to investigate the multiple signatures within their territory.

Their ship was not of the design that would appear in 2183 based on the Reapers but a more spherical object which bore resemblance to a space station though it was about the size of dreadnaught. The sphere had exhausts on various points on the body showing the geth's enterprise in building obscure-designed ships and because they were synthetic there was no need for exterior windows and thus leaving the interior unknown. Only brief images of this ship can be seen as the visual stealth system on the ship flickers from time to time, not long enough to notice the titan.

The visual could be seen however from the Xun-Xun's bridge where the widow of the former Captain is currently scanning her way through the files of the ships data looking for anything useful. Tiaz was also accompanied by nine other quarians ranging from different ages and were considered dispensable by Gotro with the reason for killing them was because they attempt to challenge his authority.

They were also helping the best they could with borrowed time, Gotro was on the ship and it was only a matter of time before he got to them via his marines. Rhea enters the bridge from the elevator with her two quarians that ambushed the unit in the cellblock with Zeki and sees that the engineering of this ship was not so different from the Dirt-Boat being cramped yet bigger in scale and larger for addition crew, though with the additional mess and quarian modification shows a more claustrophobic atmosphere.

Rhea approaches the main terminal to Tiaz, "Have you found anything useful?"

"No, Gotro was careful. He has wiped the system clean of anything that may incriminate him." she informs still searching the database, "Where is Zeki? Is she okay?"

Rhea nods, "She's fine. She went to the connection link is waiting for us, if she is found she will fire."

"I don't blame her, the quicker we are off this ship the better. With Gotro removing the FTL drive this ship is useless." Tiaz knows that nothing can be recovered as she abandons the console, "I'm sorry that he has done this."

Rhea nods and accepts the apology because in the end she and Krieg were the victims in this whole experience, "Don't worry about, we need to get off this ship and that's all that's important. Come on." She says as she leads the group to the stairwell leading down to the floor they intend to meet Zeki and her fellow rebels.

Out of the group, Mual is the only one who doesn't leave and no one notices due to the franticness of the situation as he is still hacking in-depth within one of the consoles. He uses his left hand to do all the work as his right arm is strapped up. He is the only one who has noticed that abnormal signature that had emitted for a few seconds and knows that the geth were watching and he turns to the window and sees a brief image of the sphere. He realizing this situation has gotten more complicated before following the rest down the stairwell.

Krieg is as equally as stressed as he is now trapped in the engine room and has no way out because the panel leading to the part of the ship has been blocked by a crate covering the entrance. In addition to uncertainty that is plaguing his mind there is also this addition feeling of pain that is occurring around his cheek bones, something that he had been experiencing since he woke up a few days ago. Constantly rubbing his cheeks he doesn't pay attention to the sound he can hear above.

The quarians that now inhabited the MSV Angel were be rounded up by the unit of marines that were ordered to stay. They aren't very concerned for the civilian's wellbeing as they use forceful tactics to make them obey. While eight of them lead them to one side of the ship, the remaining two continue with their job of placing a crate over Krieg as a temporary means of keeping him within the confined space. Two of them were just listening on as they were outside of a door guarding Tyon and Droh, two of the captured traitors to Gotro and are still currently tied up in Rhea's room where the they are both concerned for their people.

"What's going on out there?" Tyon asks.

Droh shakes his head; "I don't know." is all he answers when something more obscure can be heard from a closer proximity.

The sound of the two quarians outside being hit but something solid though no shots are fired to catch the attention of the rest of the unit. Both quarians are startled by the sight that comes before them as they see a blue man, the very same as one within INC's training program. Because it was made from the same material to made kinetic shields, the man was actual solid and therefore could make contact with other object, as can be seen was it carrying two shotguns and throwing them towards Tyon and Droh. Behind it was none other than INC itself, finally awake and its timing couldn't be better. It is cautious however and keeps its turrets locked onto the pair while the blue man unties them both.

Droh is the first to stand and take a shotgun, "What are you?" he says pointing at the man and not INC itself.

INC answers, "Ally." And the blue man closes to show its true face, "Located: Krieg. Located: Rhea T'Anya. Commencing: Regrouping."

Tyon looks at the machine with more interest that Droh, "This is the drone that Gotro wanted me to look at."

"Messaged received: Additional allies ready to deploy." INC states before processing and making a sound that was almost exact to geth screeches.

Droh points his shotgun at INC, "Did you hear that, it has called to the geth for help, it's an AI."

Tyon however sees a different view and points Droh's gun away from it, "Whoa, listen this thing isn't geth, it spoke." he informs, "Maybe we should find Krieg and he can explain." Due to the trust that he holds for the younger quarian he reluctantly retracts his guard and two of them follow the machine towards the hallway.

The machine is the one who catches the rest of the marines off guard as it uses its blue man once again to appear behind one of the marines and grabs the side of his head within the intent of breaking his neck. Succeeding, the blue man grabs the pistol before it falls to the ground begins firing on the rest of the unit, who return the fire. The civilians fall to the floor in fear and confusion while INC takes out all of the marines with its turrets and the blue man's assistance and making it look simplistic.

Additional blue men appear and pick up the weapons and proceed to make a more ideal fighting unit as both Droh and Tyon have watched the complex strategic systems of this drone, far advanced. The blue men head towards crate and move it with ease together and one opens the panel to see Krieg standing at the bottom, aware of the quick skirmish that happened. One of the programs gives Krieg a hand out of the engine room and the grey alien is immediately caught off guard by the sight of Droh pointing his shotgun at Krieg this time.

"Inadvisable." is all that INC responds as all eight blue men point at the quarian.

"Alright Krieg, what is this thing here!" he says pointing again at INC.

"It's mine." He answers knowing that this would be the response he expected, "It's my personal drone."

"No drone sends out for geth! It was using the language." He says to Krieg's surprise and the other quarians begin talking among themselves worried at even the name of the synthetics, "So why has it sent for geth?"

Krieg turns to INC in confusion, "Care to explain, I know I can't."

"Network: Used communication to open portal to geth consensus. Response: Geth have sent additional aide for exchange."

Krieg still doesn't understand, "Exchange? Exchange for what?"

"Recovery: Their ambassador is upon this ship. Identity: Classfied." it reveals in lower volume so the civilians can't hear.

Droh hears as well along with Tyon, "So there is a traitor working for the geth!" Droh states pointing his shotgun down, "And they want him unharmed. That means we have to save Gotro. That fucking bastard is untouchable."

"Additional Information: Another marine unit sent to Xun-Xun: Extermination ordered." INC also states revealing the possible battle that is about to occur on the ship.

Krieg turns to Tyon and Droh, "Listen, we need to dispose of the marines but keep Gotro alive. This is only way that the geth wont attack us."

Tyon looks at INC, "I don't like it but if we can avoid a geth attack then we must do as the machine says. I'll stay here and watch the crew, I'm no soldier." he says and takes a step back. The other two and INC mutual agree on subduing Gotro and not killing him as the machine leads them towards the back of the ship.

On the Xun-Xun the quarian himself stands ready to fight as he watches closely for anyone who will attempt to escape the ship. Olic is also by his side, the young quarian hasn't been on his pilgrimage yet and is nothing more than a follower to the otherwise all-powerful captain.

Rhea and the other are heading down the stairwell and meet with Zeki and her two other quarians are position and watch as the remaining five members of the marine unit sent out to scout the ship have regroup with Gotro, who is giving them some additional commands. Rhea gets her pistol ready and loads a new clip into it while Zeki holds tight her shotgun. Tiaz as the more senior quarian crouches beside them as well, not intending to be kept out of the situation and contributes to the conversation.

"This would be a good time to use a grenade." She says looking at the unit.

Zeki shakes her head, "No, it would most likely destroy the bridge linking the Xun-Xun to Rhea's ship."

"Then what would you suggest?" Tiaz wanders.

"Take them out with guns but make sure we are not too close to them. We don't know if they have Gotro's weird gadgets." she looks at Rhea, "Then we get to the ship and sever the link from there."

Rhea nods in agreement, "That would be the best thing I think, nice and quick."

All three of them nod and wait for the moment as the watch the marine's turning to face away from Gotro and Olic and before they can react, one of the rebel quarians gets too agitated. This young male gets up and out of the hallway leading to stairwell and exposes himself. He fires towards the marines and catches one on the shoulder before the other four fires in that general direction and making little effort in killing him.

Rhea is annoyed by the boy's eagerness and knows that it is now or never and dives to some nearby crates and covers he self, Zeki doing the same in a different location. Tiaz remains in the position that she was but has trouble keeping the other quarians at bay because they were just as afraid as she was. These included Saan and Mual who were both victims of Gotro's regime but unlike the young girl, Mual was more calm and held the girl for her own safety as she tries to get up to see what's happening.

Gotro himself has taken a position on the opposite side of the room and is covering himself with some crates and holds his fire, biding his time while the other marines lack discipline with the one next to him falling to the ground dead with a hole in his visor. This was courtesy of Rhea who was more capable than she used to be and uses her biotics to push one back into the wall and Zeki fires a shell at him, killing him. With two down, Gotro is now outgunned and grabs the pistol from the marine beside him and activates his stealth system, cloaking himself while the other two remain alone and fall victim to Zeki's tactical gunfire.

Rhea points her gun and catches one of the guard's that was patrolling the link between the two ships while the other, Olic has fled the battlefield. The young quarian runs down the link and looks back to see that everyone is dead and he would share the same fate if he didn't escape, betraying Gotro. He is startled however when he turns his head and comes into contact with Droh's arm, the older quarian clothes-lining him. The quarian is accompanied by Krieg and INC and they head across the bridge and see the marines lying on the floor and none to be seen.

Zeki gets up and reveals her position, "Gotro! Come out you bastard! Show yourself!"

Droh is first to approach his fellow quarian, "Zeki, are you alright?" his answer is shown through a hug and is glad to see her friend.

Krieg is holding assault rifle that Olic was carrying and looks as Tiaz picks up a pistol and leads the quarians to the entrance and directs them to walk across but his sight then turns to Rhea who has revealed her presence as well. He approaches her with a smile of relief, "You're okay."

"I'm surprised you care?" Rhea replies still not happy at him, "Are the marines dead on the other ship?"

Krieg puts the other issue aside, "Yes, but we've got another problem. Where's Gotro."

Zeki interrupts, "He's hiding. Don't worry, we just leave him on the ship and let nature take its course" she puts forward as solution.

Tiaz nods, "I agree, he is not worth our time now he is stuck. Let's leave him here."

"No, the geth are not far from here and they are demanding that we hand him over to them. He is their ambassador." Droh reveals to the three women adding complications.

"Exchange: Geth want their ambassador for the lives of you crew." INC states.

Tiaz looks at the machine knows that something is wrong with it, "That's an AI? Destroy it." she points her pistol towards the machine.

Krieg immediately defends it by aiming at her, "Try it!"

Zeki points at Krieg, "I don't think so."

"All of you put you weapons down!" Droh says being more civilized of the group, "This machine is Krieg's, he will defend it. Besides it could kill us in an instant."

Both Tiaz and Zeki look at INC hovering and they relax after a few seconds. Rhea also doesn't want any possible allies dead as she changes the clip in her pistol, "Listen, Gotro needs to be found not killed if any of us have a chance of survival. INC, can you find him?"

"Processing: Gotro'Galiv's signature found. Location: Cargo Bay." It informs where they were kept as prisoners.

"Then I'll go and get him." Krieg says.

"No, I will." Rhea responds.

He turns to her, "No. Gotro's dangerous."

Rhea sneers, "I know, but I said I will do it." she says adding tension, "I don't need your permission."

"Yes you do." he says back.

"Who says?"

"Your mother!"

"The two of you shut up!" Droh says once again, "Rhea, you and Zeki find Gotro. Krieg, stay up here with us and make sure that he doesn't sneak onto you ship! Tiaz, you better get there as well."

"No way, I'm not going until I know he's dead. I must make sure." she says and her stance on the issue was final.

Krieg reluctantly nods though he gives Rhea a glare beforehand as she takes the earpiece he has on and fits it to the side her head and the grey alien watches the two of them enter the elevator and the doors close. INC remains in its position and keeps track of the situation at the bottom of the ship. Tiaz is just as uneasy about the situation but out of everyone, Droh seems the most capable under pressure.

Krieg sits on one of the nearby crates, "I can't believe you let her go." he says referring to Rhea.

Tiaz is the first to speak, "She is a capable fighter, and she knows what she is doing."

"Capable fighter, my ass." he mumbles.

"Correction: During your comatose state, Rhea dedicated her spare time in learning and training." INC informs.

"But she's not ready." Krieg tries to say as an excuse but is really being naive.

"You don't trust her?" Droh says before seeing the expression on Krieg face recognizing it almost instantly, "You care for her, don't you? More than a friend would. I know how you feel. You're afraid to a point that you believe that they are not able to defend themselves and so you become over-protective, sounds familiar."

Krieg sits there with a guilty face and rubs his cheek, "I want to protect her, that's all."

"Then let her protect herself first. No one is completely helpless." Droh states ending the conversation and leaning nearer the link to the MSV Angel.

Rhea and Zeki are waiting in the elevator and are both nervous about the upcoming battle that they are about to face and the enemy that has proven to be more than a simple quarian. Zeki ready's her shotgun and nods to Rhea while she points her gun towards the door ready to fire upon opening. A few seconds and the doors open to reveal nothing in their sights, not even the bodies were disposed of earlier which leave a trail of confusion between the pair as the walk forward with their guns pointed. They don't speak encase Gotro can hear them and feel that they have to be just as quiet as he is, he being almost none existent.

"Well, looks like my plan has failed." Gotro's voice states though the origin cannot be traced, "Pity, I guess the quarian race is doomed after all."

Zeki isn't impressed as she points her gun around in random place, "Gotro, you are making this harder than it has to be, show yourself."

"You can't demand anything from me, Zeki. After all I am one with 'true' knowledge, am I not?" this makes Zeki uneasy, "Captain Frytus was a fool to try and kill me when he did, the explosion that killed him in the engine room was unfortunate."

Rhea points her pistol forward, "You mares well start at the beginning, confess to what you have done."

"Mm…Well seeing as I'm about to escape I should reveal who I truly am. I am Professor Gorto'Galiv Vas Xun-Xun Nar Idenna. I was once the Lead Executive of Geth Research in the Migrant Fleet Marine-Core-Zero."

"Zero-Core?" Zeki has heard of that name, "They answer only to the Admiralty Board."

"Indeed and through the techniques they have taught me I know everything. I came to Xun-Xun four years ago for personal reasons and my Captain was Cerruc'Frytus. He was a marine through and through and had no real appreciation for science, hence why there were only three scientists on board including myself."

"You've been planning this for four years?" Rhea asks.

"No, but my goal has lasted that long and the hand dealt to me was most fortunate. I was given the role of Second-in-Command, due to my military experience but I wasn't able carry on my research, an order from the Board themselves and Cerruc was more than happy to make my life miserable. However my technological enterprise was appreciated and many of the marines you've have killed believe in my work and backed me in this plan."

"You mean all those I have killed were betraying us all this time anyway?" Zeki asks shocked at her fellow comrades willingness to follow him.

"Betrayal is the wrong word to use but hypocritical when it came to both Cerruc and you, Zeki. Cerruc tried to kill me as he could no longer bare that fact that I knew his little secret." Gotro's voice pauses and in front of them a screen appears showing a sight that Zeki didn't even know existed with the data banks of the ship.

The image is that of security camera pointing towards one of the store room that were turned into cell, but this was before that as the former captain was in this picture in a compromising position. The quarian, who wear a white suit with a black secondary pattern is leaning on a crate while the other quarian was Zeki herself, still in her suit but her mask was on the crate as she was on her knees. He face couldn't be seen but from her position the camera had caught Captain Cerruc receives oral sex from Zeki.

Rhea sees the image and catches on and turns to Zeki, "You were having an affair?"

"No, it's not like that, I-"

"Captain's orders, I'm afraid. Captain Cerruc was infamous for his treatment to female officers, unknown of course to Tiaz and his poor daughter Xera. This additional information was known to all my marines and we were going to present to the Admiralty Board ourselves and in response, Cerruc tried to kill me."

"Oh my…you actually had a justified reason to taken over command but the Captain's actions caused his own death?" Rhea realizes.

"The engine room incident was unfortunate but he fired at one of fuel gauges and the explosion killed him. It was an accident decent enough to call for an abandon ship."

"That's sick." Rhea says still thinking about what the former Captain did.

"Zeki, the affection I showed to you was genuine. I loved you for you are, not because I had power but when you accused me of even touching Xer,a I knew that you were lost and that your allegiance couldn't be trusted."

"And what the marines and the scientists?" Zeki demands to know.

A sigh could be heard from Gotro's voice, "Despite the evidence there were also other undesirables, people who believe they were better suited and underestimated me. The first was Droh's wife, the former Second-In-Command, so I shut off her systems before she could even act, the other followed not long after."

"Lucky one of them was able to tell me in time." Rhea says.

Zeki points her shotgun still after all this time, "Then why did you keep me alive? Did you think you had a chance with me?"

"I spared you because you would have been crucial to trialling Cerruc, with the addition of my most valuable source of his corruption."

"Most valuable source? What's him mean by that?" Rhea wanders she asks.

Rhea is unaware however as she feels a hand on her shoulder and the beginning of pulse heading through her. She is knocked back a dozen yards and Gotro is the cause as Zeki turns and pulls the trigger. Gotro is fast enough to redirect the weapon upwards and the shells hit a steam pipe which blows down towards the floor, making the room more visually impairing for them. Gotro uses his other palm to hit Zeki in the stomach, sending a shockwave through her and she drops her shotgun. Zeki is still on her feet however and immediately attempts to punch Gotro who moves his head out of the way and activates his stealth cloak.

"Where did he go?" Zeki asks as she turns frantically and can't see anything through her visor which has steamed up due to the increase in heat. She does however feel a presence on her shoulder turns to see Rhea and sighs in relief as the asari silently assures her that she is safe.

The asari tries to focus and sees no movement within the foggy room and begins to wait much to Zeki dismay but it pays off as the parting of steam can be seen vaguely and she uses a biotic push. She is successful and Gotro's cloak switches off and he flies across the hallway into more steam, the sound of him making contact with the ground can be heard, "Got you!" she says with a smirk.

Gotro gets up and sees no point in hiding now Rhea knows how to target him. He does however have a trick up his sleeve as his suit is giving off an electrical pulse, obviously reacting to the steam which was water after all. He places his palm forward and releases what normally would use to subdue his opponent up close but releasing the small shock cause it to react with the steam and send a small bolt of electricity in the pair's general direction. Rhea dives out of the way but the blast hits Zeki, being knocked into the elevator. Rhea knows that Gotro is only dangerous because of the water within the room and has to fight tactically in order to beat him. The quarian however sees this as an opportunity to cloak himself again and take cover.

Back near the linking bridge Krieg is getting restless and is pacing up and down rubbing his cheeks with his left hand while he holding the rifle in his right. Droh is sitting at the linking bridge while INC continues to remain still. Tiaz sees that Krieg is not comfortable and gets up from her place to talk to him.

The alien turns to face her and nods out of respect but it is obvious that he is concerned, "They are taking too long."

"Catching Gotro won't be simple, killing him would be easier." she remarks as she looks at INC with caution, "That AI you have, it has betrayed us."

Krieg shakes his head, "No it hasn't. Its self-aware but it also knows that what it's doing is in the best interests of me and Rhea."

"How can you be sure?" she questions further.

"Ask it?" he says.

Tiaz walks over to INC with ease though she is weary, "You, machine. Why have you ordered the geth to come here? Are you working for them?"

"Negative: Someone else on you ship is and is valuable to them. Exchange: The Ambassador for aide in leaving the Perseus Veil."

"So you are not working for them? But you are an AI?" Tiaz says and having a general and ignorant theory about self-aware machines.

"Negative: This cause of action is to save lives, not endanger them."

Tiaz turns to Krieg hoping for more detail, "I programmed INC to learn based on instinct not statistics, it obviously thinks that asking help from the geth is a viable action and therefore acted upon it."

"And you trust it?"

"With my life." he replies as he continues to look at the elevator door hoping for Rhea to return.

He doesn't however hear the sound of Olic entering via the bridge and holding a pistol firing towards Krieg and is successful. Krieg feels the shot hitting him in the leg and falls to the ground, Tiaz helping him almost immediately. He has a wound in the side of his right leg and with his shield not switched on there was a hole in the armour.

Droh gets up and knocks the pistol out of the young quarians hand then using his foot to sweep him over feet and points the shotgun towards his face. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you where you lie?"

Tiaz turns, "Don't give him chance to answer, kill him Droh." This order surprises him as he was only using it as a threat to scare the pre-pilgrimage quarian. Even Krieg is weary of the quarian as her stance on traitors was actually more extreme than others, "What are you waiting for? Kill him."

Droh looks her, "You really expect me to kill a child?"

"Those that were killed here were no older than him, a traitor is a traitor."

"Still, that's not the right way."

"As the Captain's wife, you should know you place. I'm in charge here. Kill him now!"

Droh stands straight and gives Olic a chance to move away behind him, "No."

She walks over to one of the corpses and takes the pistol from it, "Then I'll kill him." and points the gun.

Droh points the gun at her in response, "No wonder Gotro throw you in cells, he was right?"

"Gotro knows nothing of order, me and those loyal to the Captain were the only ones capable of restoring peace to the ship after my husband died trying to free us from Gotro. He killed your wife, Droh. She believed with us that Gotro was unfit to command."

"No, she respected Gotro as her superior." Droh ensures though he has his doubts.

"No, she was ready to dispose Gotro before she died. We knew Gotro was up to something so we formed a small group behind his back and planned to make his death seem like an accident."

"Gotro said that he intends to replace the Admiralty Board with one strong leader." Krieg adds.

Tiaz looks at him, "A dictatorship would never be allowed, the quarians wouldn't allow it."

Krieg holds his leg, "If he is the Geth Ambassador, maybe he did have a way of getting the homeworld back, and it was actually possible. And the people would rally behind him."

"No! Gotro is a murderer and nothing more!" she says still pointing her pistol at Olic and Droh at her.

In the lower half of the ship Rhea has made her way down a floor into the engine room, where the Captain died. It was also filled with steam though only a foot as it hadn't reached down here as much yet. She points her pistol forward and is cautious as they come and her breathing shows it, calm but nervous. Stepping into the shallow mist she waits for her opponent to show himself but fails to see the hand creep from above her. By the time it makes contact it to late he has fallen on top of her but she kicks him off. She them mounts him punches the quarian in the visor but as some of the mist clears. She notices that suit isn't Gotro's, but one of the marines she killed earlier. She quickly gets off and lets out a distressing breath as Gotro was playing mind games with her.

"Gotro! I don't want to kill you, I need you alive. There are geth outside ready to fire on us and they want you in exchange."

Gotro voice speaks "Don't play games with me Rhea, we've been out here for weeks and Geth haven't appeared."

Rhea looks around in confusion, "You're not the ambassador?"

"What ambassador?" he answers to her surprise.

She is then caught off guard when Gotro reveals himself and hit her in the stomach followed by a left hook to the cheek and points the pistol he took earlier at her. She manages to push him back with a biotic push and heads straight on top of him punching his mask and cracking it on the left side before he wrestles himself on top of her returns with a few punches of his own. Not taking asari for granted he points the gun at her again only this time she submits.

"You've chosen wisely, asari. Lucky for you I value my life more than taking yours." he says taking a few steps back, "I believe that is a fair exchange than giving me to the geth. I never thought of myself as an ambassador, just advocate to understanding them." He says before activating his Omni-tool and behind him near the end of the engine room as piece of the wall opens and entrance to an escape pod is revealed. "I will enter the Mass Relay alone but if you can deliver my people to safety, it would be most appreciated. Keep Xera and Olic safe, they are important to me."

Rhea gets up and pick up her pistol ready to fire, "Tell me, why leave them?"

He turns not surprised to see her position, "Because I have failed. I am not the terrorist you think I am, Rhea. Speak to Krieg and he will tell you my plan. What I told you would have been the way to advance those plans, but it was not meant to be." He says opening the pod which reveals a small cockpit closing the doors behind him. Rhea hold on to a railing while the escape pod is let loose and there is a brief exposure to space before an emergency wall shuts the airlock.

Rhea also has a better view of the engine room as the steam has also been vacuumed out of the area but doesn't have time to look around as she puts her pistol away and runs back up to the floor above and sees down the narrow hallway of the cellblock is Zeki in the elevator moving but in bad shape as her suit has many burn marks on it. Rhea sprints to her and immediately presses the button to head back to the main floor.

"Did you get him?" she asks unsure of what happened.

"No. He got away, but he isn't the Ambassador for the geth."

"He isn't, then who is?" she asks before the doors open to reveal the sight of Tiaz pointing her pistol at Olic and Droh at her. She is helped up by Rhea and stands on her feet walking by herself as she sees this confrontation.

Rhea on the other hand looks to see Krieg holding his leg and goes to him and crouches examining it, "What happened?"

"Like you care." he replies. Rhea looks at him and sees a weak smile and returns it while helping him to his feet.

Tiaz is still trying to convince Droh to kill Olic, "Droh, he worked for Gotro! He deserves to die for his crimes!"

"But he is a child, Tiaz. Not much younger than your Xera!"

"Don't compare my daughter to this fucking Bos'chet, if he were half the man Xera's father was he would-"

"I wouldn't want to be half of what that rapist scum was!" Olic shouts at her.

"Stop calling him that! I have had it with your accusations that my husband, your Captain was a rapist. He would never do such a thing."

"Actually, Olic is right."

Tiaz turns her head in disbelief and looks at Zeki, "I knew you were too jealous of me for you own good Zeki, but to lie about-"

"When I first arrived on the Xun-Xun, Cerruc forced me to put his dick in my mouth. I…I…I did it because he threatened that if I didn't, he and his higher ranked marines would do worse." Zeki looks down in shame, "He even made me watch as he did it one more time to Olic's mother before she killed herself." she looks at him, "I'm sorry Olic."

"Don't be, he was the Bos'chet and I am the bastard to prove it." Tiaz turns back to Olic as he has revealed his true hatred for what seems to be his father, "I joined Gotro to bring him to justice. He may be my father, but what he did was unforgivable. However, I did still have family to confide in."

Droh sees a new Olic, a more justified Olic and helps him up, "What do you mean? Family?"

Olic brushes himself off, "Gotro is one of the few quarian's to have a sibling, in his case a sister who was my mother. When I was born and my mother never revealed the father, Gotro was in the Zero-Core and didn't know either. It wasn't until I found out about my father and the truth when I contacted him. He wasn't getting along with Admiralty Board but was willing to abandon his research to help me."

"You lie!" Tiaz says.

Olic chuckles amused at her innocence, "Your husband was not the man you thought he was, Tiaz. He was scum!"

She looks at the people in the room. Droh, Olic, Zeki, Rhea, Krieg, even INC's silence displays that she is alone in this argument, "I won't let you do this, you risk my name, my daughter is pregnant for the ancestors sake." she admits that she had knowledge of it.

"You knew all this time that Xera was pregnant?" Rhea asks helping support Krieg.

Zeki looks up as well, "When I told Gotro that Xera was pregnant? He was surprised and he kept her close, he even confessed that he wasn't the father and was offended when I accused him. When you were put in the cells a few weeks ago, you requested that your daughter be with you, why?"

Tiaz looks at them all in shame as the sound of crying can be heard, "It was embarrassing. She hadn't even gone on her pilgrimage yet and she was going to have a child. She didn't know that she was pregnant but I did. I was going to find a way to terminate it."

"You were going to get an abortion for you own daughter and not even tell her. What? Were you going to ask me to do it?" Rhea asks disgusted at her.

Krieg is as equally horrified as he doesn't understand why a person of any race would do such a thing, "You we're going to kill you own grandchild? That makes you no better than you husband."

"Shut up!" she shouts and points the pistol at Krieg and shoots him in the stomach. Again without shields active he is effectively vulnerable and feels the heat and shouts in pain. Within seconds INC's follows his initial programming and cuts Tiaz down with a few thermal bullets, killing her instantly so she doesn't suffer. Out of everyone, Krieg is the only one who doesn't react as he knew this would happen while the others are shocked at the machine's ruthlessness but don't challenge it.

Conveniently, the ship begins to shake and the group see this as a time to leave the ship as Zeki leads the three men. Olic and Droh have to support Krieg by having his arms over their shoulder and escort him across, much to his distaste while Rhea and INC cover the rear. As soon as they enter the MSV Angel the doors shut as well as the airlock to all their surprise and Droh looks at the terminal for it to say 'disengaging link'. He tries to override it but something has entered the system and small tremor is felt through the ship as the Xun-Xun breaks away from them.

Olic keeps Krieg standing while Zeki and Rhea enter the main cargo hold in the middle of the ship to see the quarians staring at them. They out of everyone have gone through more than anyone as they have been keep out of the dark about Gotro's plans, who they trusted with their lives and do not know about the more sinister life of their previous captain or that his wife is dead on the other ship because of her denial of the truth.

Tyon approaches them along with Saan and they see Krieg entering with Droh and Olic escorting him to the front of the ship. "Is this all that's left?"

Zeki nods, "Yes, the geth haven't attacked yet so we better think about leaving."

Tyon asks the important question, "But what about the Ambassador?"

"Gotro wasn't the Ambassador." Rhea informs and turns to INC, "INC, will the geth attack us?"

"Negative: Ambassador secured." INC replies before heading towards the front of the ship with the rest of them.

Rhea, Zeki, Saan and Tyon head up to the cockpit and see that Krieg has strapped himself in the pilot's chair despite being injured. Rhea sits in the chair on his left while INC places itself on the right. Krieg sees that below by his chair was a bottle of beer untouched for a few days but the quarians didn't touch it either as they couldn't drink the alcohol. He picks it up and takes a huge swig for some Dutch courage and to hopefully ease the pain of his wounds. Rhea looks at his actions with concern and a bit of disgust for drinking the beer as he grabs the controls and sets a course to get some momentum before entering the Relay.

The Angel moves its position away from the Xun-Xun, which has began floating away towards the geth sphere which has finally revealed it position to the quarians though there isn't any activity from the ship. Positioning itself the Angel began accelerating towards the Relay, and within seconds the object shoots the human cargo vessel back into the Attican Traverse.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker has listened to Rhea's story so far and is intrigued by her knowledge but still wanders what she knows about the Reapers as they haven't been mention directly within her memoirs. He has a glass of water on the dining table within the kitchen and takes a good sip while Rhea puts out her cigarette. She gets up and grabs her guest's plate and takes it to the sink not bothering to clean it but turns and leans against it.

"We survived. Gotro escaped and he turned out to be not just a bastard but more of a hero than anyone else." she says even surprised now.

"His suit though? I still don't get why his suit was able to do such a things like shock people and fire lightening, that should of killed him?" Joker says knowing a quarian is capable of such feats.

"Quarians can't afford biotic research, Eezo is precious as fuel. They focus on technological based weapons and Gotro made use of such technology."

"But surely he was found; the Admiralty Board wouldn't let one of their top Geth Researchers disappear on his own accord."

Rhea thinks to herself and looks upward, "Play Audio File: Gotro 23/05/2158." she says as the speaker hidden around the place begin make a sound and the pair of them listen to the file.

"MSV Angel, this is former Captain Gotro'Galiv Vas Xun-Xun. This message is directed to ship's crew, specifically those who know some of the recent truths revealed. I have failed in my goal and with a heavy heart I must abandon my people, for their safety more than mine. I don't regret my actions as taking the Angel would have saved us all but the Geth didn't attack me when I entered the Relay so they shouldn't attack you either. In the console that was within Krieg's room is a contingency plan encase I failed in which I divide the crew, so that they could be passed onto other ships within the Flotilla. I guess I thought that if I succeeded in not just Cerruc's case and eventually usurping the Admiralty Board I wouldn't be able to care for crew and wouldn't want them wasted."….

**24/05/2158- MSV Angel**

"…To Droh, I confess that I killed your wife. She was dedicated to the cause of killing me with the other marines and scientists that were in the medical bay, and she never like me replacing her. However through my methods I know now that there is another that you care for. Zeki, I…loved you, despite the fact I am forty-five and not getting any younger, I couldn't act because I feared that my behaviour would have made me no better than Cerruc. It was for that reason I kept you alive, you hated him but he was you captain, you're a good soldier and will make a good captain yourself someday."

Zeki is sitting in Krieg's room on the bed where she has her arm around Xera as all who have played a major part in this ordeal and survived have gathered to listen to this message which arrived a day after it was sent. Droh sits on the desk with Tyon sitting in the chair and was the one who accessed the message. Olic sits on a crate in the corner and keeps himself to himself while Rhea is also in the room but leans on the wall next to the door which was closed as this was a private transmission..

Gotro's message continues after a pause, "I have set up a pair of Credit Accounts. One is for nephew. Olic. I have taught everything I know though you never took my training seriously but it will be useful in time, you are a Galiv after all. The other account is for Xera. The news of your pregnancy is unexpected and not knowing what your mother intends to do I feel that it is you decision alone. The account is to support you either way. Concerning my whereabouts, I am dead nothing more. Zeki, there is a copy of my evidence of Cerruc on this console, do what you want with it but apart from the pictures of you I retain the master copy of the evidence. I would also advise the Admiralty Board not to investigate my death or whereabouts either if they suspect me alive."

"Fucking bastard. He knows how to play politics thousands of miles away." Droh says in between the pause.

"Working with Zero-Core gave access to information on the Flotilla's secrets, including those of the Admiralty Board. I know everything, dirt on every single one of them and if they even try to interrogate any member of this crew of what really happened I will sell this information to the Shadow Broker, he would the information more useful than I would. This is you former Captain…Kellah'Salai." the message ends.

"Well, is that it? He has us by the balls." Tyon says not happy

"What of Cerruc and Tiaz. Should we present the evidence?" Olic says still backing Gotro's idea.

"No, we shouldn't. We don't have a ship because a botched takeover that I doubt was legal. With that, Gotro's case would be ignored even with testimony." Droh says causing Olic to stand up in protest.

"No! Cerruc must pay for what he did, I demand it!" he looks around to see that no one was agreeing with him, "So that's it, we just forget about every that bastard did to my mother, to you Zeki."

Xera stands up, "That's my father you're talking about Olic!"

"If only you knew the truth you wouldn't say those words!" he shouts catching the attention of everyone but doesn't explain further as he walks towards the door. He does turn for some last words, "I start my Pilgrimage now, and I don't intend on returning to this life. Gotro was right, the quarian race is weakening because those who are meant to be in charge give us false hope, he offered something real and many believed him." and walks out showing courage more than anyone.

Rhea looks at Xera and sees that she is still in distress and calms her down and they sit down together, "It's okay, Olic's just angry."

"He's my half-brother now, I don't know what to think of him, of my dad." she admits as both Rhea and Zeki comfort the pregnant quarian.

The men look at each other and know that this situation is more complicated for the second. They both turn to see the door open and Saan runs in and immediately Rhea and shakes her shoulder. Rhea turns to the youngling she distress on what she can see of her face, "Saan? What's wrong?"

"I can't find Mual." she says and the group look at each other all believing that all survivors were on board the Angel, "He wasn't with the rest of us."

Tyon gets up and grabs Saan by the hand, "Come on Saan, grownups need to talk." he says leading her out.

As soon as the doors close Zeki speaks the real conclusion, "Mual was the Ambassador that the Geth stated, but wouldn't reveal identity to us in fear we might kill him. Not even INC knew about his true identity encase it told you or Krieg." she says looking at Rhea.

"It's probably a good thing we didn't know until now." Rhea says looks as Xera and rubbing her back.

Zeki stands and approaches the desk, "What do we do?"

Droh thinks to himself for a second before coming with a solution, "When we get back to the Flotilla, and we tell them about the engine accident and Cerruc's death. We'll say that Gotro as captain requested aide from Rhea and she obliged. The rest of the civilians don't know about the small rebellion against Gotro and his actions but we don't have let the Board know either. Apart from me, you, Xera, Tyon, Saan and Olic, no one else really knows what occurred here." he brings up a map of the galaxy on the console screen and pinpoints a location, "We need to get to this planet in the Argos Rho Cluster, it is barren but breathable. From what Tyon has calculated the Flotilla will pass through the system in eight weeks. There is a turian Station nearby and we have purifiers. We'll buy the food off them and ration it to the crew. When we reunite the rest of fleet we should have a straight story to give to them." he finishes and having a good plan with Rhea as the only able member of her crew nods in agreement.

"Then we better get moving." she says heading out of the room and heads into the cockpit where INC is at the helm and a quarian is in of the other chair. Rhea sits down a sighs finally safe with this ordeal over.


	20. Ghost from Above: Part I

**Chapter XX: Ghost from Above: Part I**

**10/07/2158- Intai'sei, Phoenix System, Argos Rho Cluster**

It had been almost six weeks since Rhea and Krieg escaped the Perseus Veil and with hundreds of quarians in their ship who now refugees with no ship to bare their name. They are waiting on the desert planet Intai'sei which by the present time wasn't one of humanity's colonies though there is a different sight here as on the large expanse of desert within the northern hemisphere the MSV Angel has landed and currently there is a small camp built around it and of mixed origins as Droh's plan were to wait out for two months until the Flotilla comes passing this part of space.

It was daytime and many quarians were outside because they didn't have much opportunity to be outdoors and they intended to make as much use of it as possible. The children were playing while the adults were socialising or building some equipment for the effort of helping the rest of the crew.

The places where they slept were made of quarian camping equipment that they transported from the Xun-Xun before it was taken by the geth. The tents were held together with silver poles and blue sheets with additional plates on the sides and the roof for some security. They were large enough to fit a dozen quarians crammed together so around twenty were set up around a small area while centring around two much larger tents with a similar design which normally would be for field research but have since been converted for different purposes as one has a door that was locked so only certain people get in and the other was a communal centre.

The other presence that was here was a turian makeshift base that resembles a bomb-shelter more than anything as the stone-coloured metal and the in operational turrets on the top were a sight that didn't fit with the simple quarian enterprise and two make-shift watch-towers on either side of the camp made it look more prison-like.

The reason for military presence was because the marines within this ship's crew were dead apart from the few that survived the ordeal in the Veil and being the race they are, the turians have set up on the ground with troops to protect them, wearing their armour at all times and keeping their rifles on standby despite lack of danger.

The main quarian tent is current occupied as the interior consists of a table, chairs and its residents. On one side are Droh and Zeki now the two most senior of quarians in rank. On the other side of the table a raised seat has been made for a volus who wears a dark blue suit with a white secondary colour and has the Hierachy's symbol on the right forearm, indicating that the volus works for the turian sitting next to her.

This turian was of age and experience and had a fading red skin tone with blue streaks down his eyes and a conjoining streak across his nose. The person was someone of importance and so was the alien next to him, as the volus were a client race of the turians. The armour he wore was scratched and had seen battle but the jet blue coating it had still shines to a degree. He also has a cape trailing down to his ankles but is on the floor at this time as he is sitting down.

The volus looks down a clipboard, "Well, Commander. It seems that all the money that was due has been paid with the services performed from some of you fellow quarians taking off the final cost." She says indicating that she is female, "The Hierarchy have agreed not to charge for the security as they did volunteer." she informs the pair.

"Thank you again, we really appreciate this." Droh says to them and nodding that the turian, "Have you managed to locate the Flotilla?"

"We have contacted them and they have agreed to hasten their voyage to this planet. We've managed to keep this all hush-hush; if the media knew that quarians were on the planet then your stay here wouldn't have been so comfortable. I hope my troops haven't been too much bother."

"They have been scaring the children, they've only just got used to see our asari friend but I think that this will be more of learning experience for them." Zeki says to the turian with concern, "However, some have been less than pleasant. One of our pre-pilrims nearly had a fight with one of your troops."

The turian looks at his volus colleague, "Is this true, Lerin?"

The volus nods, "The troops have been more than helpful, and they have done everything you have asked. But I have had a few complaints leading to xenophobia." She stops to hear the sound of someone in distress, "That's sounds like them now."

The turian stands up to reveal his larger frame, "If you both excuse me." And walks outside to see that Rhea is the one who now has the problem with the turian and by the sound of the argument it was getting heated.

There were three turians, all young in their late teens wearing typical armour that is associated with associated with their general. One is a purplish colour and has blue markings while the other two were beige and from the resemblance were brothers, the older having a slightly bigger build. The younger brother is eager as he reaches Rhea's behind and squeezes it to her annoyance as she is currently holding Saan by her front in a protective stance. "Don't do that again."

"What's you blue ass going to do about it, sweetheart?" the purple member says, "But I could show you what I could do with it." he says giving a sinister smile.

"Hey, look!" says the old brother pointing, "It's that guy we saw earlier."

The turian stands next to Rhea, "I'm General Tylirria, what seems to be the problem?" he asks the asari.

Rhea looks at him, "These three assholes thought it was funny to throw rocks at the children earlier. Saan got hit on the visor."

Tylirria looks at the girl and sees the crack on her helmet knowing that from the impact it was an external hit. He looks at his soldiers in disgust and with faces of instant regret as they didn't know that he was their superior, "Would you like it if I got the rest soldiers throws rocks at you?"

"Sorry, Genral. It's just that the child was getting to close to the outpost and-" the young turian can't seem to get his words out and Tylirria shows remarkable resilience to his excuses.

Rhea doesn't like the tone and continues, "I've told them to leave her alone and now they're saying I should go with them into the desert and-" Rhea implies something and the turian doesn't understand. She gets closer to him and explains what it refers to so Saan doesn't hear.

His expression turns from disgust to anger as he immediately grabs the teen but the neck and raises him of the ground to the others surprise. "You have no honour. To try and insinuate such act here of all places. How old are you?"

"Eight...teen." the turian lets out struggling to breath

The turian drops him, "When I was eighteen, I was already on the frontlines. If this is what this generation has to offer the galaxy, then I am not impressed." he looks at the other two, "You will all be escorted back to the station and you commander will be informed of you behaviour. If they fail to meet any appropriate course of action I will see this as race-crime?" he says looking at the two brothers who nod and say nothing else has they and their humiliated leader are escorted by other troops to a vehicle which resembles a buggy.

"Thanks, sir." Rhea responds to him.

The General nods, "No problem, I never expected such behaviour. Mind you, when anybody sees an asari." he adds in friendly tone though implying the generalisation most have on asari. He walks back to the tent where Lerin, Zeki and Droh who saw the whole ordeal.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"That was uncomfortable. Three guys ask me to take a trip into an open expanse of rock, and let them shove their dicks in me." Rhea takes a smoke, "I can see why females sometimes hate males, they like to think with what they have that women don't."

Joker raises his eyebrows with a bit of embarrassment as he feels that is a very bad way for most to perceive themselves, "Well to be fair Rhea, human men also try do that that with our own women as well, and they normally tell us to fuck off. Not that I do that." He makes it clear.

Rhea smiles "Don't worry Joker. I don't think you seem the group-sex type." She adds.

Joker leans on the table, "So for seven weeks you were on Intai'sei and turians were giving hassle?"

"No, they stopped after that General intervened, initially. The turians are tolerable of most races though they do harbour grudges, except asari and salarians of course." She adds reminding how asari are treated by every race. "The turians help us a lot but I had problems myself."

Joker takes a sip of water, "Wait, where does Krieg fit into this? Was he with you?"

She nods, "Yeah, but he was still a fugitive of Citadel so we had to hide him. It wasn't hard as he was healing from wound he got from Tiaz."...

**10/07/2158- Intai'sei, Phoenix System, Argos Rho Cluster**

Within the MSV Angel Krieg was in the engine room which had been changed into a makeshift hospital as the Rhea had hidden him from the others along with INC the AI who was even more compromising to Rhea's safety.

The grey alien is lying on a bed with a sheet over him and drip attached to him with his hand behind his head and disgruntled look on his face. He had seemed to be suffering from some kind of illness as his face was more gaunt that usual, have bulges where his eyebrows, cheekbones and his jaw are, which had been giving him pain since he awoke from a three month sleep.

INC is rested on a stool and emits the sound of what seems to be a radio station local to the area as a form of entertainment as audio stimulation has never died when it comes to entertainment. He reaches down for a bottle of scotch which has already been opened and takes a gulp. Rhea opens the panel to climb down and place it over the exposed ceiling to turn and see her patient and immediately takes the bottle from his hand.

"I thought I said no drinking?" she says putting it on the nearby table by INC, "Who gave you it?"

"Tyon was happy enough to find me something." he responds with difficulty as every time he spoke he felt pain from moving his jaw too much.

"Well he isn't anymore; I'm going to have a word with him." she says in a motherly tone and takes the clipboard that has been monitor his progress, "Well, how's your face?" she asks trying not to laugh.

Krieg however isn't amused, "Well, obviously not as pretty as yours." he replies in a harsh tone.

"Thanks." She puts it down and getting close and begins feeling the lumps each time Krieg squints.

The pressure on his cheeks are eventually too much and he holds her hand to move away, "Okay, that enough. They still hurt."

She then continues her examination and pulls his sheet down to reveal his stomach, which was still patched up from the wound. She takes him by surprise as she quickly strips the patch off and Krieg tenses he abdomen, causing pain and grabs it. Rhea chuckles, "Their, now we have matching scars." She says referring to Delphine's wound. Krieg looks at her in annoyance but removes his hand to reveals the wound which has healed better than predicted leaving merely a small dent with a dark outline.

He lets her feel it with her hand though he secretly likes her hand touching him as he watches her eyes, "Is everything okay, doctor?"

She looks at him and smiles, "I think so, but those bulges on your face do make you look funny." she can't help but say as she begins laughing.

Krieg smiles he continues to see her happy, "I'm sorry."

Rhea stops laughing when she hears those words, "Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry for...me." he says not explaining why most likely referring to the way he treated her all them months ago.

Rhea smiles but with knowledge of what he means, "Apology accepted." She says to him and leans forward to hug him, "You want something to eat?" she asks him.

Krieg sighs in agreement, "I'm starving. What have you got?"

Olic, the young quarian who has decided to leave his life behind on the Migrant Fleet and go into self-exile is standing in one of the tents that the quarians sleep in and is currently inspecting the equipment he intends to take with him. The equipment was made from Haliat Armoury and was in better condition that before as the young quarian had been working them ever since he got to the planet. They include and Thunder assault rifle and Siletto Pistol. He checks his omni-tool for anything he has missed and gets up and intends on travelling light instead of being ultra-prepared like most that go on their pilgrimage. He walks out the tent to reveal that the sun was setting and sees Droh leaning again the entrance and he sighs in response. He turns his back and heads towards the one of the turian outposts but Droh is adamant on following.

"So you're leaving then?"

Olic continues walking, "Like I said I would. Give up, Droh. You can't get me to change my mind."

"How are you getting out of here?"

"The General has offered me a lift off world to Pinnacle Station. I will find a way from there." Olic informs the senior.

Droh grabs his arm, "You belong here with us."

But Olic pulls it back, "No, I don't. I belonged with Gotro."

"And you think you will find him? He doesn't want to be found, Olic. He made that clear. He may be your uncle, your family, but you have family here as well." Droh whispers still having hope for the boy.

"Xera wants nothing to do with me!"

"Well finding out that you have a half-brother under unbelievable circumstances would leave me shocked as well. She is your sister Olic, and she needs you more than ever." he says referring to her pregnancy.

Olic shakes his head, "She is not my sister...she's my cousin." he says before heading to the outpost and loading his stuff on the small vehicle heading out of the camp. Droh thinks about his final words and puts the piece together knowing what he means but doesn't act on it because Olic has made it clear on what he is going to do.

While Droh has an unpleasant goodbye Krieg is having a pleasant time as he is enjoying Rhea holding a fork with a piece of meat on the end. Turian food wasn't the only thing in demand as those few who ate levo-protein food needed nourishment too. Rhea is playing with Krieg, watching him try and grab the food with his mouth but keeps moving it away at the last second.

They don't notice that Xera has made her way down the steps herself and caught the two in act as from her point of view it looked like they were flirting. She coughs to get their attention but Rhea doesn't make a big deal and smiles while Krieg continues his meal of a stake while listening to a motionless INC emitting out music from itself.

Rhea walks up to her, "Are you okay, Xera? Is there something wrong?"

"You said to come and have a check-up this evening." she informs very quietly.

Rhea nods and remembers, "Okay, take a seat and keep Krieg company while I get my equipment." she walks past her and climbs upstairs leaving the two alone.

Xera hesitantly places herself on the most distance chair though Krieg doesn't seem to mind as he understood that he isn't regular sight even without the lumps on his face. "What are you eating?"

"Something called Beef." He says but looks to her and knows that she doesn't understand, "Its human food, very popular I believe. I would offer you a piece but you might die." He puts bluntly though Xera lets a weak chuckle out of her, "How are you?"

"I'm okay, I felt better but you know." She says not wanting to talk about the recent events, "So what was that earlier?"

Krieg continues eating but talking as well, "What was what?"

"You and the doctor, you are together aren't you?" She says and sees the grey alien stop.

"Oh no, no, no. We were just playing that's all, nothing more." he insists not really getting what Xera was implying before carrying on with his meal in silence, only the sound coming from INC can be heard.

Pinnacle Station isn't far from Intai'sei. As a space station and training facility it attracts many from across the galaxy, including humanity. Since their colonial conquests over the next few decades they hadn't reached this far yet. Though the planet Intai'sei would become human colony, Pinnacle Station was a turian-built facility and was primarily turian in workforce with the guards watching the various aliens that inhabited the place. These aliens normally came for one reason, to prove themselves as the best shooters in Citadel Space and included many of the Citadel species as well as Non-Citadel, the krogan having the biggest presence.

Humanity was very few in number here but two in particular stood out among others due to the armour and their status. The first was Ahern only much younger than he was when he would eventually rise to Admiral and become the commanding officer of this station decades later while the other was David Anderson, not a captain but was shown to be a man with respect as he wore his onyx armour with the appropriate N7 credentials.

Ahern also wears armor but his is heavy Onyx armour with nothing to say which regiment he represents. The two of them sit at a table in an office with a view of the nearby ringed-planet through the asteroid field as Anderson looks outside while Ahern is smoking a cigarette. They had both been sent here for a reason though it wasn't clear as of yet but Anderson's expression was one of suspicion.

He turns to Ahern, "You better put that out soon. I don't think the General will like the smoke."

"I smoke on a special occasion, meeting a turian general being one of them." Ahern responds with sarcasm which is something that never leaves him.

Anderson smiles as both were veterans of the First Contact War a year before and he knew that this mission didn't suit either of them, "The Alliance needs better relations with turians if trade is possible. This is a good opportunity for us."

"I know, I know. It's just I've heard about this General, doesn't take shit from anyone, especially humans." Ahern says with concern.

Anderson smirks, "You should get along fine with him then. Besides this is only a brief meeting." he finishes as he stands up as soon as the doors open behind him and walking through is the chief officer of the station.

General Tylirria enters the room and looks at the two humans and nods for them to sit down while he gets behind his desk and opens his console and brings up his messages, "So, you are Anderson and Ahern? Both veterans of incident last year?" he says looking at the two of them, "I understand that your representative, Goyle has sent the pair of you to survey some of our operations here at Pinnacle Station."

"Well, the Alliance wants to try to establish a colony on Intai'sei, sir." Anderson answers.

He nods, "Indeed, breathable habitats provide colonies though none of the Council races are interested, but I will warn you it's what you humans call a dump." he says referring to temperature and terrain of planet itself.

"We like to keep opportunities open even they are dump, sir." Anderson speaks being diplomatic about the whole thing.

"Not to worry, I will send an escort to survey the planet if you wish to see for yourself and I will assure you that quarians will be leaving later this week and our presence on the planet as well." he leans back and gets comfortable, "I'll be brief, this station isn't an outpost but a combat facility for training and competitive purposes. Many of our soldiers train here and from the sound of the message I received, humanity wants better understanding of not just fighting but different environments we can simulate."

"Humanity's an expanding race, sir. We would appreciate it if we had a better understanding of certain environmental advantages." Ahern says.

"No doubt. Knowing you surrounding is important for leaders to ensure their unit's victory. I take it that Alliance sent you two because you show potential?" he asks but having no knowledge of ranks they would achieve in the future. "Well, I can't say anything else but feel free to use our facility. A word of advice, keep away from the krogan. As a human, if you think we turians are bad you'll be in for a shock." He says as the two humans salute and head out of the room and pass Lerin who approaches Tylirria.

"Are those the two earth-clan from the Alliance?"

"Yes, they are here for researches and expedition… keep an eye of them." he says not putting all his trust in the pair.

Darkness has covered the camp but the light coming from the outposts give some of the quarians still awake direction of where everything is. Droh is still awake and within the main tent where he was dealing with both the general and his volus colleague only something else is on his mind. He is thinking about Olic and what he said to him though his leaving is still causing guilt within him. He isn't alone because Tyon sees him from the doorway and can tell that he is upset about something, the marine having his head in his hands. The younger quarian enters and sits next to him and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Droh? You've been like this all evening."

"Olic's left, for good. I didn't think he would actually go but I guess I was wrong." he answers in a stressed voice.

Tyon continues by squeezing him close. One of the few times they can be together is moments like this as he rests his head on the older quarians shoulder, "He was going to leave anyway, sooner or later. We were like that once." he says putting his left hand on his leg.

"I know, that's what worries me." he sighs but decides to change the subject, "Good news about the Admiralty Board, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is. Will they split us all up onto other ships?" Tyon asks him.

"Most likely, I doubt me and you will see each other as much." he looks at him eye to eye, "Sorry it has to be like this."

Zeki can see the two males from distance where she was leaning as she couldn't get to sleep. She watches as she sees the pair of them taking off their masks for a brief second and kiss, hidden behind their visors but she knows that they made contact. Rhea also sees it and smiles at the sight love blossoming though does see Zeki is in contemplation.

She turns to see the asari lean next to her, "Nice isn't it, watching them?" she says referring to the two.

Rhea nods in agreement, "It is." this is followed by an awkward silence as the two haven't been alone since the revelation of Zeki being forced to perform oral sex on her captain to protect herself from greater harm, "You know, if you want to talk about? About Cerruc, I'm here."

Zeki turns away slowly, "I don't think you would understand." she says before feeling a hand grasps hers and she turns around to realize that the asari had an experience herself. Rhea becomes a friend and lets Zeki embrace her and listens the sound of crying, "I…I still can't believe I did it, after all this time. I was afraid and alone and when I saw what he did to Olic's mother. I was sick in my mask thinking about it." she says like she hasn't talked to anyone.

Rhea keeps the embrace, "Zeki, you're not alone."

She continues to cry, "The strange thing is, that the more I think about it, Gotro was right. But I still don't know why I'm beginning to think that."

Rhea looks at her face-to-face, "Gotro…his true nature was a surprise to me as well. Some of his means were bad, but obviously he cared for you enough not to simply kill you along with others who didn't like him."

"I remember when he first came abroad he took a liking to me but I rejected him. I thought he was too old for me but now I know he was looking out for me, he knew what they did to his sister and he knew I saw it to. I guess I owe him more than I think." Zeki says with regret, "Only when he became more flirtatious I became more rejecting, which lead to my bitterness."

"I understand. What you went through makes it harder to trust others. But you have people here who still care about you." Rhea says hugging her again, "I know I have." The pair doesn't notice but in the sky is a blue shooting star heading towards the planet and by the look of it was entering the atmosphere. The object is heading over the horizon and away from the camp.

Not far from the location of the camp a familiar face is watching the asari and the quarian hugging through her binoculars, fixed on the two. It was Delphine and she was lying on her front and in the dirt while positioned at the top of a small hill. The dirt had rubbed on her armour which had camouflaged with the ground to hide her position visually and Yox's armour had done the same, though he was laid on his back and look through his assault rifle scope.

His rifle was a new model and was same colour as his armour in its original colour, silver with dark blue and he was holding it in admiration of its craft. Delphine as a similar weapon in a submachine gun form though it could be held with two hands if desired. The krogan was bored and knew that espionage wasn't his forte yet he had to amuse his superior for the sake of his life more than anything.

"Yeah, this is defiantly the MSV that Krinal was looking for. I remember that piece of asari ass." She says thinking fondly of that time together.

Yox sighs in bitterness, "Then this Krieg-guy must on board like it said. Why do we have to capture it anyway?"

Delphine puts her binoculars on her right hip, "Because Krinal said. That machine keeps me in the dark as much as you."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's level the place."

He's about to get up but Delphine keeps him down, "No, we need the others. They're a part of the mission too." She says as he visor makes a sound, "This is Delphine, what is it Chavai?"

"We've just gotten word from the Emissary. Saying 'return to camp immediately'. It has sent us some additional supplies." the female voice replies and breaking off communication. The two of them get up and begin heading across the desert on foot means that they aren't very far away from the quarian camp.

The Scythe presence on the planet wasn't known to anyone especially the turian's in this area of the galaxy as they would have destroyed them if they knew that they were so close. Humans however are just as unaware of the Scythe existence but that is only due to their recent joining of the galactic community as shown through the two humans on Pinnacle Station walking around an area that looks like a volcanic world but was merely a simulation.

They have made it to be realistic and Ahern is sweating a little due to the heat exposure but he takes their helmet off as the simulation is complete and the dead turians on the ground disappear. Anderson also takes his helmet off as the two walk out of the giant room into the elevator that leads to the administrators centre and step out to sit on the nearby table.

"So what do you think?"

"It's okay I suppose but it isn't challenging enough." Ahern complains feeling that it's potential is limited.

"This is the commercial station. Don't expect it to be too real, if it became self-aware think of the damage it could cause?" Anderson suggests.

Ahern nods and agrees, "Yeah, but what I mean is that compared to what I went through on Shanxi, that doesn't even measure. The best experience is on the battlefield and I stick to that." He says as he sees the turian guards watching them, "They really have a problem with us being here you know? They must really hate us?"

Anderson doesn't look but knows that Ahern is going to be stared down, "The feelings we have are mutual but we can't afford an incident. The Alliance would like some form of access to this station and starting fights isn't going to help."

"True, we're all soldiers here. But that general, he's too liberal for turian. I thought he would spit on us like most do?" Ahern says.

"I noticed that turian officers show more respect than their troops, I guess that's what makes them the higher rank." Anderson replies as he did notice that Tylirria was a lot more pleasant than most turians. "But they are disciplined as well."

"Attention: Anderson and Ahern to the General's office. Repeat: Anderson and Ahern to the General's office." Comes from the speaker and the two look at each other not liking the sound of what they have heard and immediately follow the order.

A few minutes later and they enter the office where the General and Lerin are currently greeting an additional guest to the station. This man wore an officer's uniform and was afro-Caribbean in decent though from his accent he sounded like he was from a Latin country. The two soldiers immediately salute as they recognize the person in front of them.

"At ease, officers."

"You know Captain Lozano them?" Tylirria says, "Good, then we can skip the pleasantries."

"What are you doing here sir? We weren't expecting anyone for three weeks?" Anderson asks unsure.

"A problem has come up, Anderson. The Alliance has recently found some disturbing information concerning the quarian refugee camp and we need you there for additional support." he says and signals Tylirria to bring up a visual of the camp and the human recognize the ship, "This is the MSV Angel, it was stolen and has been missing for over a year. The Alliance doesn't tolerate theft of its ships and as head of the operation at the camp; General Tylirria has agreed to apprehend the ship."

Tylirria continues, "We will begin prematurely evacuating the quarians tomorrow and two of our carriers will escort them back to the Flotilla. While we are helping you, we have additional interests. Not long after the war between our races, this ship flew to the Citadel and left days later. Human Vessels were not sanctioned to board the Citadel and so we recorded its details. The day it left, two life forms were aboard, one an asari identified as Rhea T'Anya."

"Is she dangerous sir?" Ahern asks not sure about their species.

"She's wanted for questioning by C-Sec over the disappearance of Commissioner Vetos." Captain Lozano answers referring to the possible framing of Rhea for it which conveniently clears the Scythe out of the picture, "C-Sec have put their trust in us for this one, as Intai'sei is a potential candidate for colonization after all. Your mission is apprehend Rhea T'Anya but we believe that the other life form will give you trouble."

The humans turn to the turian hoping for an explanation, "Her accomplice or bodyguard we believe is an unknown alien and from C-Sec intelligence there is a strong link to the K-Thousand Project."

"K-Thousand Project, I've never heard of this from Arcturus." Lozano states hoping for answers too.

"It's one of Council's more secretive ventures. We only know of this because we apprehended the creature in asari space two years ago. It escaped and went on killing spree during the period before Shanxi, but the war shifted focus off it. It was killed by a band of mercenaries and a messy joint investigation between C-Sec and Spectre's didn't help either. The body was lost a fire and we believed that to be the end of it. But from Alliance intelligence we believe that another one exists and stole the ship." Tylerria says believing Krieg dead and that there is more of his kind in the galaxy. He brings a screen with mug shots of various people, "There were only five people that could identify the deceased alien personally; Vlax Dru'Khan, a refugee smuggler who is currently serving a life sentence and his son who has currently been taken by the batarian government. A former turian soldier called Ridian, who now works as a high-class caterer on the Citadel. A spectre named Juna who was killed during the investigation and finally Miss T'Anya here."

"And how does link with the Angel, sir?" Ahern asks.

Tylirria continues, "From the evidence then and the evidence the Alliance has given us we believe Rhea T'Anya has made contact with an alien race that the Council have no knowledge of. This second member of this species makes her wanted by the Council itself, not just C-Sec. So we must keep her alive in order to locate the unknown race before possible repeat of Shanxi."

"And what about the other one?" Anderson asks.

"In order to prevent a repeat of the K-Thousand project, the Council and Turian Hierarchy have ordered to the termination of this alien so they can study it in safety. We would have our alien and you would have you ship back." Tylirria states.

The two of them stand at attention for the Captain, "I have ordered a few sets of new equipment for this mission. They won't go down without a fight I believe, so prepare yourselves. General Tylirria will be with you down there to aid the evacuation." he says before leaving the office.

Back on the planet the Scythe's camp was much smaller in comparison to the one surrounding the MSV Angel and only consisted of the eight troopers, all asari and a small contingent of Scythe drones which outnumbered to them two to one. But these asari were also unique as they wore armour of custom design too though the leg armour was more generic. The plating was light in tier but it was jet black and the patterns on their torso resembled a reaper shape while on their back they had a pair of magnet plates that they attached their addition equipment on. They wore their helmets which were more akin to masks as they covered their eyes which glow dark blue and their fringes which were designed similar to reaper tentacles and this headgear connected to the armour that reached their necks.

The pistols on their hips were built in a revolver-style and had a barrel that was smooth while the handle was built personally for each asari's hand and these were the weapons of maturity to them as they were the 'true' Disciples of the Scythe and not a part of Krinal's faction like both Delphine and Yox were.

One of them was a female with her helmet off and is sitting at the fire. Her face was severely battle-scarred, having them across her lips, nose and her left eye, which had been replaced with a black eye and a faint blue sensor in the middle, showing it was a replacement. This damaged the asari's looks as though she was aging compared to the other more youthful members.

She was their leader, Captain Chavai who looks over when she hears the sound of feet heading towards he and she nods when Yox and Delphine reveal themselves, "Sit down." She orders and Delphine sits while Yox remains standing to her annoyance, "We got a message an hour ago telling use the location of the backup Krinal mentioned." She says bringing a picture of a three side ship that had one pointed end and flat triangle base on the other, "Krinal assured us it would be useful."

"Did he say what it can do?" Yox asks her.

She looks up to him, "Two of my troops have gone to collect it, and it should come online when it detects their signature." She puts down a small pad down and a hologram appears of the Angel's location and its current surroundings, "I'm posting my troops across this expanse towards the entrance. Most of the turians are there so if you make any noise, they won't." she says pointing at the hills that Delphine was surveying from. She zooms in towards the ramp of the Angel where the airlock is situated, "That's you only way in one of those ships. Sneak as best you can but if caught, fire the flair and we'll back you up, kill even the quarians if need be. I'll keep a link open with you but I don't believe any shooting will occur until after this Krieg is ours."

"Understood, but I have a feeling it will be harder than we think. Yox isn't the sneaking type."

"But he can carry it out of the ship and continue firing, the krogan has his uses." Shea says in a xenophobic way.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." Yox lets out before hearing the sound of a faint scream, "What was tha..-?" his words are cut short as one of Chavai's returning troops is hurled into the fire but her armour protects her body from the flames. Delphine, Chavai and the other troops have their guns pointed in that direction while the krogan remains cool. "Looks like backup's arrived earlier than we thought." he says smiling as all he can see in the darkness are two glowing blue eyes.

Rhea is sleeping in her room and has her front to the wall the sound of silence is greeted to the asari as she has had nothing but a hectic schedule for the past few months. Her peace is short lived as Zeki opens the door to her quarters and sees her sleeping. The quarian rushes over to her and shakes her frantically hoping her to wake up.

"Rhea, Rhea, wake up!" she's say as she watches the asari turn to her, "Rhea something's happening, the turians are evacuating us now!"

Rhea's eyes widen, "What, no? The Fleet isn't due for another-"

"The General is here, he has ordered us all to leave now!" she says and helps her up as the two for them head towards the front of the ship where the events are taking place.

A minute later and Rhea can see that the quarians are being forcibly rounded up by the turian soldiers and commotion is ripe. Droh is arguing with the General while at his side are Ahern and Anderson in full N7 armour and helmets and armed with assault rifles and pistols made from Hahne-Kedar. They are looking around at what their former enemy is doing, Anderson in particular surprised at the harsh treatment at an otherwise calm relationship the groups have had in the past seven weeks. Also, two giant air-carriers have landed at the front of the camp, slick in design but were military in grade as there were bulky and meant to fit a huge number of people in.

This also seems to have gotten in the way of the Scythe's plan as Rhea and Yox are hiding behind one of the tents camouflaged, hoping not to be caught as there is no chance of them getting into the Angel without being spotted by the turians, quarians or even the two humans. Delphine is wearing a helmet like the other Scythe troopers to hide her identity but is an advanced model with a white glow instead of blue. She uses the X-ray vision to get a look inside the ship though it is very faint and sees a body within the lower-starboard engine room and knows that is the target, "There's that bastard." She says as she looks at Yox and who is also wearing a mask. "Captain, I know where Krieg is but the area's too hot for us to move."

"I know those air-carrier are in the way. But the General himself is there and those are humans with him. From recent intel those are N7 soldiers, elite troops so they mean business."

"What are you orders?" Delphine asks.

"Stay put and let's sees how this ends. When the quarians leave so will the turians so it'll be an easy job taking care of the two of them. Listen in if you can Delphine, give us an update."

The Scythe watch on and Delphine activates an audio enhancer to hear the conversation about to commence as Rhea and Zeki reveal themselves to General Tylirria. Ahern and Anderson who pull their assault rifles out and point them towards her much to everyone in the camps surprise, especially to Zeki. Droh and Tyon were standing by the General while Saan was standing by Tyon's side. Even the duo hiding in the camp are confused as they thought they would end up in that position and not her.

"What's going on?" she immediately asks not understanding though the two humans are doing their duty.

"Rhea T'Anya?" Captain Anderson asks hoping for a positive identification but a simple nod is enough for him to continue, "You are now in the custody of the System Alliance pending transfer to the Citadel Council, I advise you don't say anything as it will be taken as evidence."

Rhea looks at Zeki just as confused as she is approached by the two humans who keep vigilant and don't take her for granted, "What are my charges?" she asks as Ahern manages to cuff her hands behind her back while Anderson stays on watch.

"You're wanted for questioning over the disappearance of Commissioner Vetos. You'll be taken to Pinnacle Station shortly."

"And the quarians? Where are you taking them?" she demands to know not having cared for them this long not to be privy to their fate.

"The Hierarchy has organised transports for them to meet the Flotilla, away from Alliance Space." She informs her.

Rhea turns to Zeki and gives a weak smile, "You better get going, and this is your only chance to leave."

"I can't leave you hear while they accuse you of something, it isn't right?" Zeki insists on defending her.

"Miss, I suggest that you stay out of this matter, it has Council interest." Ahern says keeping grip of the cuffs, "Get back with the rest of you kind and collect your belongings."

Zeki looks at Rhea and she nods to the quarian and telling her to comply with Ahern as she reluctantly makes her way down the ramp while Droh continues to argue with Tylirria. "My people aren't prepared yet, we agreed four days!"

"You don't have control, Commander. The Council and the Alliance has intervened for extensive purposes and they are doing this for your safety!"

"Droh, they are giving Rhea to the council!" Zeki says approaching him.

Droh sees her arrested and turns back, "That asari has been with us since the beginning. She's been nothing but helpful to us!"

"Commander! This ship is Alliance property; if you arrived on this ship then I would think no better to think that you had stolen the ship! This evacuation is to keep you out of the investigation, unless we quarantine the area and have you all arrested!" Tylirria shouts aloud for everyone to hear and getting absolute silence with his use of tactical diplomacy. "Get you people on the transports." he states pointing in the air-carriers direction in the way of Chavai's scope who can't see them.

Droh sighs and turns to his people, "Everybody begin evacuation, you know your names so you know which craft you and your family are assigned to!" he looks at Tyon and Zeki, "You too." He looks at the general one last time before heading and organising the quarians.

While all of them head down to the rest of them and form lines ready for deportation, Rhea is still at the top of the ramp with Anderson and Ahern. She sees that the General and four turians walk up towards the trio but don't realize that they are being watched as Delphine continues listening in.

Rhea looks at the turian now with distain as she feels betrayed by him, "Miss T'Anya, it's a shame that you've been found out like this. I am friend of Vinel Rhodius who is currently settled with you mother, but they can't help you this time. Like when you were caught by him you had another on board, someone unique. Where is this one?" he asks and looks over her shoulder and sees from her body language that he is present within the ship, "Anderson, Ahern. My men will take T'Anya to Pinnacle Station. These three troops will aide you inside, and their weapons are set to kill."

Delphine hears this information and watches as a turian trooper escort Rhea towards the rest of the main party with the General while Anderson and Ahern are about to walk inside the ship, "Chavai, they're going to terminate the target. Repeat: they're-"

"I heard you Delphine. Our back-ups already on move, it's ignored the signal and is approaching you position." she replies.

The humans and their three turian strong backup have entered the cargo hold and see the mess over the past few months. Equipment was set up and crates opened which were for its original destination and not for Krieg's curiosity as he is about to be killed by the group.

They don't see the panel to the Starboard engine is exposed but the way towards it is one of the visible directions in which the group can take as Ahern is first to notice and approaches it. He sees the light coming from the room and is cautious and keeps his rifle pointed towards the hole. Taking one breath he hovers over the hole and then jumps down. A scream can be heard from his position as the other four reach him and see that he is okay. He is holding Xera by the arm and looks at Anderson with stressful look.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Ahern demands to know.

"I was waiting for the doctor, she was going to scan my stomach…I'm pregnant." Xera says hoping mercy was an option for them.

Ahern and a turian help her out, "Get out of here, your people are leaving." he says and Xera doesn't answer but seizes the opportunity to leave and once again the group can pursue their target.

Delphine was wrong and as Xera was the one in the medical bay Krieg obviously wasn't there. The five of them have scanned the cargo hold and are approaching the cockpit and personal rooms. Anderson leads and keeps guard as they stop at the sound of rummaging in the cockpit which at this time was closed. He takes slow steps and with each soldiers nerves build as they prepare themselves for execution of another living being. Anderson reaches the control and presses the button for the doors to open.

Within a second Anderson waits to be welcomed by INC who currently has a blue man generated as it pushes Anderson out way and becomes the focus of fire. The drone itself begins firing at them and taking out the turians before the blue man disappears and INC flies towards the back of the ship where Krieg is in the cargo bay and the machine hover beside it, ready to defend him.

He is wearing his onyx armour which is the same make as the humans but in much poorer condition and the arm padding was missing. The grey alien has armed himself with some of the weapons that they had accumulated from the quarians, namely a pair of Siletto pistols and a Firestorm shotgun, the latter on the back of his own belt while the pistols are placed on his upper thighs.

Anderson and Ahern look at the alien's face which is now conveniently covered with women's stockings that would have normally had a different use and over his eyes where a pair of goggles with blue-tinted lenses as Krieg couldn't bare direct sunlight to his eyes. The two of them are cautious as the alien is now armed and ready when they are to fire.

The two approach and stop when the ship begins to shake, to their and Krieg's confusion. The tremor becomes more volatile and begins to feel like an earthquake while Krieg dives behind some crates for cover while Ahern attempts to catch him with a shot. Krieg hold his stomach as the wound hasn't healed yet and neither has the one that Olic gave him on his thigh, his leg armour still baring that hole. Both humans take cover and wait while the ship continues to shake.

The affects can be felt outside as well and the turians have reacted by hurrying the evacuation and are dragging quarian away while they attempt to stay together and collect their belongings. Rhea has fallen over and the various members of the suited race are all she sees with a few stamping on her in the process of trying to flee the scene which now resembles a disaster about to happen.

The General is close to the asari though is holding onto a crate for support with the bodyguard in charge of Rhea. The only ones not actually feeling threatened by the earthquake itself are the Scythe trooper as Captain Chavai and her group of nine commandos are still and continue to look through their shaking scopes though they can't see anything useful. Delphien and Yox are still hiding as well though they are near the source of the object causing the quake as it is about to reveal itself.

A hundred yards from the front of the MSV again something is crawling up and towards the surface breaking free as the catalyst is air-born and quake stops to reveal the three-sided spike that was the Scythe's 'backup'. The back end of the spike proved to have exhausts and passes by the camp and all look towards it and get a look at its size. The spike was big but smaller than a fighter as it flies majestically afar before making an overhead swoop back towards their position. The Scythe is even captivated as they see the spike let out three small balls of light which are directed towards three targets.

Two of them impact with the two watchtowers that have active troops positioned on and now don't as the explosion causes various damage at a scale and debris falls on the ground with some quarians that are left begin panicking and avoid them. A piece of roofing has landed on Rhea's but misses the General and his bodyguard as the two see the spike flying upwards only to fall down and land point-first in the dusty centre of the camp. The third blue ball had hit the Angel but not cause to much damage though the turians are concerned with the spike in front of them as they take cover.

The landing of the spike causes dust to form around the camp and with the addition of the falling watchtowers. The visual of the object was hard to fathom as only the outline of the spike can be seen. Tylirria and the soldiers gaze as the spikes mass decrease and seem to be forming into a different shape. From anyone's perspective they knew that the silhouette in front of them was a turian but it wasn't the shape that catches hem off guard as the shape's eyes begin to glow bright blue, ready to make contact with the supposed enemy.


	21. Ghost from Above: Part II

**Chapter XXI: Ghost from Above: Part II**

**2185- Presidium Embassies, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Though Rhea was telling the story of the N7 veteran to Joker in her safe haven from Cerberus, David Anderson was far from feeling as stressed as he was now with his work on the Citadel stressing him out more than he wants it to. He sits at his desk within the presidium which was once the office of Donnel Udina, the other major human representative in the galaxy but this room now acts as Anderson' headquarters.

He is sitting at his desk and isn't wearing his formal attire but rather his casual clothing despite the quality of someone of his stature he is more content with clothing that fits the common man just as well as him. On his desk are about half a dozen clipboards but he was a soldier at heart and he didn't have much love for paperwork. He also has a bottle of whiskey on his desk and glass poured with some ice and he takes a sip before looking at the messages at his console.

He lets out a loud sight before hearing his door open and reveal an unexpected visitor at this time in the evening. The human was about five foot ten and was Caucasian in origin and had stubble across his face while his eyes were covered with finely made sunglasses unusual for this time of evening. His hair was covered with a beret of the finest quality and the N7 insignia on it and with the sunglasses made his age hard to determine but the wrinkles developing on his face suggest he was in his forties. He wore a long leather coat with it open to reveal his Alliance Uniform which isn't like the one Anderson had but was merely a simple alliance soldier uniform with the arms rolled down.

Anderson stands up as the man approaches and shakes his hand, "Major Bjorn Magnusson, it's good to see you again."

"And you, David." he replies with a light Scandinavian accent and takes a seat while Anderson pours him a drink, "How's the Citadel treating you?"

"Worse than when Udina grounded me after Eden Prime, more paperwork." he answers and hands him the glass.

"Cheers." he says taking the alcohol and admires it, "At least there is something human here, even though it goes faster than we think." he says with a jesting tone.

"What are you doing here? I thought Alliance Command would keep you close by?" he wonders as this is an unscheduled visit.

"Admiral Hackett can hold the fort by himself, the battle here proved it more than anything." Bjorn replies, "Besides, it is Alliance Command that has brought me here actually." he says as he put his briefcase on his knees and opens it.

"Alliance Command, what do they want that could possibly be here?"

"Well they're curious. This news that Shepard is alive has them in a very awkward predicament, he still officially dead in records." He hands him a few photos of various places that Shepard has been or the damage he has left, "You can see why the Alliance is concerned and with this rumour about Cerberus being involved."

Anderson looks good at them before putting them down, "Well I have nothing to tell you officially, only that the Commander found the real cause of the human abduction, the Collectors."

"Right, plausible I suppose though the Alliance won't bother to change the status of their officers until they come to us directly. And that seems unlikely." he says taking out another object resembling a voice recorder.

"What's this?"

"Yes, my other business here involves interviewing you concerning an incident that happened on the date 11/07/2158 on the Intai'sei" Bjorn says hoping for a reaction.

Anderson remembers the date and the mission his was on that day, "I was told not to file a report. Bjorn, tell me straight. Why bring up an assignment that has been classified for twenty-seven years and all of a sudden has been reopened for investigation? Am I in trouble?"

Bjorn chuckles and shakes his head, "No David, it's actually Alliance's Business now. Since joining the Council, we have been given information that was private and we want tie loose ends. This case is one of them."

Anderson looks at him with suspicion, "Why? Couldn't you have asked Ahern, he was there too?"

"We would but despite his current occupation on that very station he is still active in duty and is more trouble than he is worth, so leaves you as an easier approach. No offence."

"None taken, Ahern doesn't like unnecessary bother." Anderson says thinking back, "Why is Alliance interested in this case?"

He starts looking at his notes, "Well from the records, we gathered information on a project that occurred before First Contact, not long before actually called K-Thousand. Do you know what that is?"

"It was a life-form wasn't it?"

"Yes, in fact very strange life-form that peeked the curiosity of the Council but the project was a disaster. The place was broken into and he escaped, killed a Doctor Thenas, Doctor Talis, Captain Nemus and a hanar Ambassador among others. He was killed then another one appeared, am I correct?" he looks for validation.

"Yes. Myself and Ahern were briefed about what we were dealing with. We were escorted by General Tylirria, then head of Pinnacle station to the planet and while they were removing quarians from a MSV, the Angel." He remembers it well, "We arrested the asari but when we went into find the life-form we found not just him but an assault drone protecting him as well. Then, then an earthquake started and explosion occurred afterwards."...

**11/07/2158- Intai'sei, Phoenix System, Argos Rho Cluster**

Anderson is lying on the floor of the upper half of the cargo hold which is a very different sight than it was as the Scythe's back up had cause heavy damaged to the inside and it showed as light peeked through the ceiling of the ship where impact occurred.

The cargo hold was destroyed from the inside and all the human culture that was carried inside the ship had either be exposed or destroyed from the object that had the form of a spike that is now in the centre of the quarian camp. He looks around while still on the floor and grabs his assault rifle and near him he sees moving from some of the crates. Lying down he aims his weapon and waits for the moment when they reveal themselves. He is disappointed when Ahern breaks free from a load of boxes that fell on him and Anderson helps by removing them and pulls him out of the gap.

"Thanks, that was too close for comfort." Ahern remarks as he looks up towards the ceiling and sees the hole and the blue sky above, "I never heard anything about air support?"

"Never did I." Anderson says before looking over to where Krieg and INC were situated and sees no one, "He must gotten outside otherwise his body would've been burning by now." he says knowing that the projectile landed directly on top of Krieg. They both get their assault rifles and get to the back of the ship where the action is not without running past a gloved hand with grey fingers sticking out of a pile of crates. The fingers are moving to getting a bearing of the heavy pile on top of him.

The pair reach the airlock and the ramp heading down towards the camp but are met with gunfire hitting the top of the opening as the pair take cover in response with Ahern having a better chance to take a view even though he was further away, "What do you see Ahern, is it bad?"

The human looks at watchtowers and see the damage as some of the roofing is on top of where Rhea lay during the quake and currently Tylirria is in an open position with just one solider protecting him, "Not good, the General's safety is compromised." he says keeping an eye on the on the silhouette.

Tylirria himself has only a pistol on hand and is focused on the roofing that fell near his position as Rhea was underneath and he couldn't be satisfied with not knowing whether she is okay as she was currently in the custody of both the Hierarchy and the Alliance. He isn't the only one concernd for Rhea as Zeki saw what happened and is making her way through the panicking quarians trying to get onto the transport carrier but she wants to get a better look at the situation.

Droh isn't as enthusiastic though he has followed her as she is the only other military-trained quarian so he doesn't follow without carrying a pair of shotguns towards the crates that she was taking cover behind and handing one to her as they take aim of the turian shaped object that is responsible for this mess.

Tylirria, Zeki, Droh, Ahern and Anderson all get a look at the culprit that is responsible for such chaos as the dust clears. The turian's exoskeleton form was a result of it landing from its original spike-form though as the dust clears the object in question has more distinguishable description about. The soldiers look in confusion as the dust clears from their enemy to reveal a turian, as already identified though this turian was bare naked though it private area had be reorganized, like an angel they didn't exist. The turian skin was shining silver though it body could change colour to the environment though it would stick to its original form. The weapon was muscle from head to toe with a working muscular system and a face that could express its feeling though it shining blue eyes would captivate its enemy.

Tylirria's face is different to others as he seems to notice that the face of this machine resembled someone and hesitates before acting, "Fire!" and they obey the two humans having to take cover while shots fly past them and Ahern has a close call.

Anderson looks at him, "Was that a turian?"

"It was, but it was a machine as well. It can't be a turian though; otherwise Tylirria wouldn't have given this order." Ahern points out knowing full well that turians despite their history wouldn't turn on humans like this. "We need get out of this ship."

Anderson sees the bullet fly pass, "No, it's too much of a risk getting off. Let's fly it out of here."

"What? Are you serious?"

"If the Hierarchy continue firing, then this ship will be destroyed with us in it. Let's move it from its position and that should draw that thing to us so they can focus on getting the quarians out of here." Anderson puts forward thinking tactically.

Ahern nods in agreement as they head towards the ship, "How do you suppose we get this thing of the ground? That thing blasted a whole right through it."

"The engines should be fine; we only need to move far enough away from the camp." Anderson answers as the two have already reached the cockpit. The two humans strap themselves in and open the systems and begin readying for take-off.

Outside Zeki and Droh watch as they see the turian firing hopelessly at the machine which has only reacted by tilting its head to the right in curiosity. Tylirria has managed to get to decent cover with his bodyguard near the two and his focuses is on the combat and not his original mission in evacuating the quarians, the small population have all almost entered the two transports given for this task. Zeki and Droh manage to get close enough to the general to talk.

"Is this why you wanted to evacuate us?"

"No! We didn't know this was going to happen! You need to get your people out of here, now!" Tylirria says.

Droh nods as he is about to run but see that Zeki isn't moving, "Zeki, let's go!"

"I can't, I must know if Rhea is okay!" she insists showing that she cares for her friend.

"We need you with us!"

"No! I need to stay!" She says and Droh understands that Rhea hasn't got anyone else to look out for her and nods as he decides to go to the transports and signals them to leave. The two huge carries begin moving from their rested positions and Droh runs towards the ramp and enters before it closes, not before watching Zeki remain near the General, "What is that thing, it isn't moving."

"I don't understand, its dead, he's dead." Tylirria exclaims.

Zeki grabs his arm to get his attention, "Who's dead?"

He looks at her in disbelief, "Sintarrio." And as soon as that name is let out a scream is heard from his position as the now named machine has begun to move.

Sintarrio as he is now named begins to move as he walks over towards a nearby tent of where some turian troops were covered against and grabs the door on his side. In shifting motion the tent is already twenty feet away in a second and the three troops are exposing to the machine as he absorbs the gunfire through its kinetic shields. Sintarrio then starts attacking by grabbing one of them by the wrist and swings him off his feet using him as a ball and chain to hit the others, neutralizing them. He isn't the only Scythe presence as Captain Chavai and her Scythe Commandos are lying on the nearby hills with their sniper rifles ready as the quarian transports move out of the way and have given them a much better view of the battlefield as the captain fires the first bullet and picks off one of the turian troops.

Zeki sees that numerous troops were meeting the same fate and she turns around and notice that she is exposed too and is quicker on her feet as she manages to dodge the shot and gets in a space in between two tents while still have a good view of the watchtowers ruins, where she was hoping to get Rhea out of. Tylirria almost meets the same fate as his bodyguard receives his sentence with a hole through his eye socket and so he follows the quarians to her position, the pair only having a shotgun and pistol between them.

"Who's Sintarrio?"

"He was a pilot under General Rhodius, disappeared three year ago in the Veil! They claimed him dead but his body was never found!"

"So he is a geth now?" Zeki puts forward not knowing that machine acted on behalf of the Scythe.

"I don't know, but it's the splitting image of him. But I wouldn't pass on that conclusion!" he states unsure as well.

The machine has an array of fire hitting it but the person it represents seem unfazed and the shield are absorbing such energy and a small over layer is forming in a light blue colour. He looks beyond the hills and sees his allies are joining the battle but firing and knows that two closer allies are seizing the opportunity and are climbing onto the ramp of the ship, Deiphine and Yox acting upon the opportunity. Thanks to the intervention of Sintarrio the mission wasn't a complete failure as this was Krinal's idea of 'backup'.

The asari and krogan that had just reached inside the cockpit are heading towards the cargo hold before they are both taken off their feet but a slight bump and that could only mean one thing. Yox is the first to notice that from the still exposed airlock that the sky was beginning to shift and Anderson was taking off with Ahern aiding him. Anderson knew how to pilot but never this quickly as the surface felt the same as it did during the small earthquake earlier. The pair gets themselves up and hold on the sides of a fixed object before they reach the cargo hold and see the giant hole that Sintarrio made earlier.

Outside Sintarrio looks as the ship is taking off and all others have stop firing and taken cover as the airlock was situated at the back of the ship and therefore the exhaust from the thruster would let out near the camp and there was a possibility of additional damage. Zeki watches the ship take off and the fire catches one of the tents in the process but due to a small engine leak spreads quickly and so half the camp is on fire with seconds, exposing many turians while they try to run away from the flames. Most of them but not all are picked off by the Scythe commandos and everything seems to be going much better for the secretive organization.

They send in their addition units to force surrender when Scythe drones reach the destination and using a threat of their tentacles to push all who remain out into the open. Chavai orders the group to reveal position and met their synthetic allies at the camp while the quarian refugees have made it out to safety but from their view the smoke coming from the camp towers and the fire from the now airborne ship isn't a happy sight.

On the MSV Angel things are a different sight as Delphine and Yox are in the cargo bay with their weapons drawn and ready to fight, unknown to both Anderson's and Ahern who are currently flying the ship away from the camp. The ship itself was only about a hundred feet off the ground and therefore still very low. Delphine and Yox both take cover when Ahern sees them when he turns back. The human gets off his chair and begins to fire towards the cargo hold.

"What is it?"

"More fucking aliens on the ship, they don't look friendly either!" he shouts while taking cover by the doorway, "Keep this thing in the air, I'll try and get a better position to take them out!" and with that Ahern heads towards where Rhea's room was and getting a better view of the enemy and fires a few bullets narrowly missing Delphine who fires two shots from her pistol.

The skirmish endures with no one gaining the advantage though Ahern is successful in drawing fire away from the cockpit. The two Acolytes head closer towards the opening but Ahern catches Yox on the bicep and the krogan drops his rifle. Though it is only minor damage for his species as he takes cover while all the combat is left to his asari partner. Delphine uses a biotic push to hurl a crate towards Ahern but he takes cover quick enough to miss and now he has the upper hand of knowing what enemy they are facing and decides to keep cover and take a defensive approach.

Yox, despite exposure acts hastily and throws a grenade towards the cockpit and it lands in front of the pilot as they know what it is. Anderson reacts by getting off the chair and lying on the ground, relying on their Onyx armour to protect them from the blast. As the grenade explodes and ship is the one to suffer as it now has no control over where it goes. From an outside view the ship tilt towards the right and being to fall to the land and within seconds the impact of the ship against the ground causes a long slide and the vessel begins to bury itself into the landscape.

At the camp this site can be seen and Tylirria knows that both Anderson and Ahern are on board. Fearing the worst he is rounded up with another thirteen of his troops and Zeki who was the only quarian left in the camp. They were all on their knees as the Scythe drones kept vigil and watched them closely. As these drones were not known to the Hierarchy the reaction on the turians face were those of caution, like a person staring eye to eye with a beast while the asari kept their identities hidden though their shape was blatant. Captain Chavai and her asari team were looking around the camp site for additional prisoner's but only one has been found among the many turians dead.

Some of the scythe drones were using their tentacles to remove debris from Rhea's position and within minutes the asari is exposed to them. She was breathing and awake though rubbing her eyes first then seeing the drones, immediately alerting her. The Scythe had found her at last and she didn't just get to see the drones again but actual disciples this time as Chavai looks at the younger asari. Zeki, though it can't be seen is relieved that her friend is okay while Tylirria is more concerned for his own safety and wanting to know more of the situation.

Chavai takes a good look at the asari and gets up close, "I've heard a lot about you, Rhea T'Ayna. You've been the keen interest of Emissary Krinal for a good year." She states reminding her of the machine that tried to kill her.

Rhea responds buy spitting at the helmet of the asari, "Fuck you, I know who you are."

Chavai wipes her masks eye and responds herself by backhanding her across the face knocking her to the ground, "Bad move, bitch!" and points her customized pistol towards her. Before she can even think of pull the trigger a hand grabs her wrist and pulls her away with no effort. She comes face to face with Sintarrio himself, the synthetic glaring and even someone like Chavai was intimidated by the machine-turian hybrid, "What are doing? the mission was to kill her?"

"Correction, the mission stated that we should terminate her as soon as the other is captured." Sintarrio speaks in a more civil accent.

"That thing Krinal wanted it dead, the ship just crashed."

He smiles, "Correction, there are still five forms aboard the ship. Acolytes Yox and Delphine are still entitled to carry out their mission."

Chavai's muscles stop tensing and Sintarrio lets her go with the machine being the true leader of this group rather than the asari captain. It turns to the other turians as they even look unrelieved by the detail of his face, especially Tylirria who catches his attention, "General Tylirria, I never thought that seeing you again was even plausible."

"You not who you think are, your dead."

"On the contrary, General. I am more alive than you could even fathom." he replies turning towards the ship and seeing the smoke climbing into the sky. Rhea had heard of the name Sintarrio as well, once from a story her ex-boyfriend Thalian told her and another from the C-Sec officer Santi but she was under the impression that he was dead. She is dragged by a Scythe drone and placed next to Zeki.

"Are you okay Rhea?" she asks whispering,

She gets onto her knees, "I'm fine Zeki. Why haven't you gone with the others?"

"I couldn't leave not knowing if you're alive." She says looking at Sintarrio, "What is that thing? The General says that it looks that same as turian he knew, said that he went through the Veil. Did the geth do that to him?"

"No, not the geth. Those drones hovering around aren't geth. They work for something else, like these people holding us here." She says watching the commando's carefully.

"Who then? Who has technology that resembles this? And why they after you?"

Rhea is reluctant but since they have met she has come to trust the quarian, "When you found me and Krieg, we were on the run, hiding from these things." She says to her friend but keeping an eye on the drones as she recognizes them, "They work for something called Krinal."

Zeki sees the drones and can tell that they are not geth design, "So that's why you were in Traverse?" and gets she a nod in response, "I can see why you have been so concerned since we got here."

"They must have found the Angel's ID signature and waited for it to appear on the network." Rhea says as she sees Sintarrio still frozen and in wait.

The MSV Angel was at an angle now compared to what it was and the upper-starboard half of the ship was at the bottom so the ship faced towards the ground at an angle and one would have to walk 'up' the cargo bay. The formation of the crates had drastically changed as most of them were at the front of the ship and some blocked the entrance to the cockpit. The hole that Sintarrio had created was still letting in sunlight as and reveals Ahern managing to climb his way out of the mess and towards to top but the steep floor presented a new issue and he couldn't climb up. Yox had also climbed out by lifting a crate and throwing it up towards the back though it came crashing back down and towards Ahern, who dives out the way. The human is about to get up when he sees krogan feet in front of him and looks to see why Tylirria said don't go near a krogan.

Yox isn't armed and results to using his hand as he picks the human up by the head and then give him a head butt. Lucky that Ahern he is wearing a helmet otherwise he could have had worse but the fight has only just begun. Yox gains the upper hand has his size allows him to push Ahern around but Ahern's training isn't useless as despite Yox's body, the human can out-manoeuvre some of his punches and he returns a counter before hitting Yox directly in the right eye, where his growth was.

This causes the krogan disorientation and he charges into the human, knocking him down and himself in the process as the crates are tricky field to navigate if one can't see. Yox lies on his front and is getting up when he sees Delphine climbing out of the wreckage and now it is an even more uneven fight. Ahern knows he is alone and when Delphine uses a biotic push to pin him to the wall, he patiently waits as Yox begins charging towards him.

This day however luck was on Ahern's side more as a crate sudden is pushes out of the wreckage and Yox is taken the direction it goes in. Delphine is just as confused as she wasn't the cause. Both the asari and human watch as INC flies out of the hole and holding on by his left hand is Krieg, still with his face covered in tinted goggles and some women's stocking as he holds one of his pistols out encase somebody fires. The grey alien is pulled up towards the back of the ship and is first with a real chance of escape, him and his drone both reaching the airlock and jump out.

Krieg lands on his front and shouts in pain as his wound shouldn't be treated in these conditions but after a few seconds he manages to stand though when walking he limps, "INC! Where's Rhea?"

"Scanning: Rhea is within the quarian refugee camp."

"Is everyone safe?" he asks breathing heavily.

"All but one quarian have left the camp, no casualties. Warning: Scythe presence detected."

Krieg's expression turns to concern, "Scythe? Drones?"

"Affirmative: I also detect the presence of organics in Scythe-grade armour. Scanning: One Unknown Scythe target detected. It isn't aware of my existence. Identifying: Synthetic-Organic Hybrid." it says about to head in that direction.

"A hybrid? Come on we need to get Rhea out of there."

INC follows, "Caution: Unknown object detects your presence." It flies in front of him, "Advice: Allow me to infiltrate."

"I can't let you, I need to find Rhea." Krieg insists.

"Negative: Conclusion: Rhea survival depends on your survival. The Unknown object will statistically follow you if you flee, increasing chance of releasing hostages collected."

"Hostages?"

"Detecting: Sixteen organics, one asari, one quarian, fourteen turian. Disciple armour prevents identification. Compound Alloy prevents Organic-Synthetic identification."

Krieg looks at the machine and knows that he can trust it, "The Scythe hasn't detected you?"

"Explanation: I can't only be visually detected."

Krieg looks at him confused, "I don't remember putting additional stealth system in your programming. Who put that in?"

"Earthdate: 04/06/2158. Reason: Encase of your possible demise or possible capture, I was asked to search through old data files to find any advantages against the Scythe. Creation: Anti-Scythe Detection Systems, when active, all Scythe built scanners and software cannot detect my presence. Addition: Ability to temporarily scramble radar. Catalyst: Rhea."

Krieg now realises that Rhea had INC upgrade itself for personal reasons as she wasn't sure of what would happen when they landed on the planet, "So you must have a plan to use these new advancements."

INC states before bring up a map of the area pinpointing their position with the camp and a small canyon, "Mission: Krieg: Make you way towards the minor canyon range, will send scramble radar long enough for you to reach the distance of 2.6 miles east. Mission: INC: Infiltrate base, eliminate immediate threat approximately 1.8 miles northwest from current destination." Krieg agrees and heads east while INC heads towards the camp which was northwest. INC seems to let out a small screeching sound and its purpose is only known to Sintarrio itself.

In order for INC's plan to be affective the machine has to draw Sinatrrio away and that meant revealing Krieg's position for a second. INC had betrayed Krieg to him but scrambled his radar as INC was technically a Scythe drone and therefore knew the technology the synthetic turian used as it lets off a buzzing sound, "I've lost detection of the organics, all of them." He says to Chavai who approaches him. Rhea smiles knowing that her idea to ask INC to upgrade itself worked.

The captain approaches the turian synthetic and looks over the Angel's current location, "So does that mean that they've failed?"

"Negative, it means that our target has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Wait here, keep the hostages alive." Sintarrio says as he begins to run towards the angel and dives into the air and becomes his spike-form and within half a minute the machine has reached its location and lands near where Krieg and INC split and sees nothing but the ruins of the ship. He watches both of Krinal's personal Acolytes, Yox and Delphine climb out the airlock and land on the ground at its feet. "Report!"

Yox gets up and stands though the crate that hit him still has him a bit dazed, "The target got away." In response Sintarrio picks the krogan up with one hand and brings him close with a face of disgust as he tosses him aside which for a synthetic is about thirty feet.

Delphine crawls on her back as Sintarrio begins to walk towards her, "Hey, listen. Krieg was alive, those humans didn't kill him. He escaped with a machine that looked like one of our drones."

The facial features of the machine turn to that of surprise, "A drone. It seems that your uses aren't limited after all, asari. Return to our camp, whatever drones are there will rendezvous with me, whatever's leftover, destroy." he looks at the ground and scans the dirt to find footprints heading east. Sintarrio jumps and flies in that direction.

Yox has made his way over towards Delphine and helps her up, "Fucking turians, even dead they seem to piss me off." and he leads towards their camp only a few miles away.

At the quarian camp Chavai and the other asari are startled as the Scythe drones retract their tentacles and format into a fleet and heading towards Sintarrio's direction. Chavai halts the group and signals to keep watch and an eye on Rhea and other hostages. Though there were only nine of them they were still a capable fighting unit and would be a force to be reckoned with by their combined biotic ability let alone their combat experience.

Zeki was placed next to Rhea and the pair had since established a solid friendship, the events of the Xun-Xun being the start despite their initial distrust for each other. They sit back to back and both watch as the turians talk amongst themselves.

Zeki gets closer, "So these you have never seen before?"

"No, I thought that they were synthetic only. Those drones that have just left were on the Citadel a year ago looking for me, but now I realize what they were doing." Rhea looks down in guilt, "They knew that to get to Krieg they would need to get to me."

"So why travel with him?" she asks.

Rhea thinks about the last time she came into contact with them, "Because if I don't, they'll kill me. He's only person that I feel safe with."

"Why they haven't attacked you family? You do have family?" Zeki asks posing a good question.

"The reason why we haven't attacked Matriarch Vessana is because we don't see it as productive." Captain Chavai says looking at the two through her mask, "Killing her mother wouldn't draw her out."

Rhea looks at the Captain, "How long have you been looking for me?"

"Oh, we have not been looking for you, Rhea. That thing, Krieg, knew that re-entering civilization saw a risk of us finding it." this the last thing that she says before the sound of gunfire can be heard behind her and she looks in that direction.

INC had already reached the camp and its plan worked perfectly as it uses its turrets to gun down two of the commandos before covering behind a tent. The remaining seven prepare for the skirmish and respond to a blue man being generated and they shoot towards it while another generates behind a commando and disarms her and retuning fire by shoots her in the head. Chavai recognizes the design of INC and is the only one successful of hitting the drone but it has no affect as the blue man takes down another commando.

Tylirria seizes the chance and gets up and dives towards one of the fallen commando's and recovers her pistol and begins shoot the remaining members, helping an artificial intelligence in its mission. The turian troops follow their leader's example and begin recovering the pistols and sniper rifles that fall and cover towards a set of tents and real battle begins but doesn't last long as despite losing around four turians out of the thirteen, the group is victorious but INC remains hidden when it see Rhea running towards the last commando, Chavai.

"Hold you fire!" Tylirria shouts as the troops and Zeki watch the two asari.

Despite being in a bad position Chavai won't give up easy as she grabs Rhea by the front and throws her on to her back about to pull the trigger when the younger asari kicks the pistol out her hand and trips Chavai. She climbs on top of her and gives her right hook across the helmet though is not very effective as Rhea feels the pain on the impact and Chavai flips on top while Rhea guards. The older asari returns the punches and grabs her by the throat, ready to kill her more effectively until Zeki points her shotgun at the commando who realizes that she can't reach her and she was check-mated and puts her hands up in response. The turian follow the quarians example and Tylirria stands impressed.

"Arrest her, the Commando too." he says to Zeki's surprise as she approaches her while they separate the two asari.

Despite being under the wreckage, David Anderson wasn't harmed as he is the last of the five organics to climb out of the crates that had piled towards the front of the ship. The angle of the MSV Angel proved difficult but eventually the human pushes the final crate and takes off his Onyx helmet and sighs in relief. He look towards where Ahern was pinned against the wall but is now lying near that location holding his back as the thud against the wall did cause some pain. Anderson immediately walks over and helps his brother-in-arms up on his feet.

He presses the earpiece and the channel is working despite INC's previous interference, "General? General? Come in this is Anderson!"

"Anderson, good to hear your voice. We managed to capture Rhea T'Anya, she's in our custody. Did you succeed in terminating the creature?"

Ahern looks at his fellow soldier and answers, "Sir, this is Ahern. We failed, sir. The creature was more inventive that we expected. Plus, there was also a pair that tried to kill us, an asari and a krogan."

Tylirria pauses before replying, "We have another asari with us but no other krogan is among the party that attacked us, what's their current status?"

"They've escaped, be careful they may be heading to you position." Ahern replies.

"Understood, get back here as quickly as possible. The creature has escaped but we have T'Anya, hopefully the creature will follow."

Anderson thinks back to the start of the battle and remembers Sintarrio by appearance, "What about that turian-shaped machine? Any sign of that?"

"We'll discuss that when you return."

"Eye-eye. Anderson out." the human cuts the channel and begins helping Ahern up the steep cargo hold of what remains of the MSV Angel.

**2185- Anderson's Office, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Anderson has finished giving his account of the mission to not only arrest Rhea T'Anya but to kill Krieg, though he never knew the alien by face appearance only his disguise and Ahern's account of his escape though he trusts the now Admiral that it is true. He takes a sip of the whiskey he was sharing with an old friend, Major Bjorn Magnusson who asked for an account of these events. The other Alliance officer switches off the voice recorder and puts it back in his briefcase and takes out another file and puts it on the desk. Anderson reaches for the file and opens them to find the picture of a spike shaped object flying through the sky of an unknown planet and system and looks at it in surprise.

"That looks like the think that attacked the camp, sure. But when I and Ahern saw it, it was a turian. It wasn't until I met the General Tylirria again that he explained how it was both the ship and thing."

Bjorn takes a look of the photo himself and smiles, "Well this ship was spotted numerous times but getting these visuals was difficult, it was until two years ago when these became 'human' authorization, along with information on the K-Thousand Project."

"What's this for, Bjorn. You don't normally come here for trivial tasks." Anderson asks knowing the major.

He sighs and takes a sip of his drink, "We believe that Rhea T'Anya is on the Citadel." he says speaking the truth though to him is a hunch.

"After all this time, I thought that she was caught a few years ago and put in Purgatory?" Anderson states unknown to even Joker.

"Of course she was, but Shepard destroyed the facility, remember? Many criminals escaped during that incident and she is no exception."

"Listen, Bjorn. I work here now; I have nothing else to say on the matter apart from what I told you. That mission was failure, but it was Tylirria that paid the price, not me or Ahern." he states alluding to the turian's current state.

"True enough, David." Bjorn puts the photos in his briefcase. He stands a reaches out his hand, "Nice seeing you again, Anderson. It's a shame that you're here and not Arcturus."

Anderson smiles as he shakes his hand a watches him walk out of the room. He thinks back to that mission though it was only a portion of story that Rhea's was telling to Joker within her safehouse at the other side of the Citadel.

**11/07/2158- Intai'sei, Phoenix System, Argus Rho **

The quarian camp's image has changed a little since Tylirria regained control a few hours ago as a small frigate of turian origin holds position where the Angel once landed and additional troops have been deployed in the wake of the Scythe presence patrolling the area.

Chavai sits on a few crates with her hands tied and for both their benefits have she and Rhea have been separated from each other as Rhea sits within a tent and two soldiers guarding it, seeing that she is considered the more important prisoner. Zeki is still in the camp near where Rhea is being held and is trying to talk to Tylirria who is not paying much attention as his back up have arrived and he must attend his duties. Among the troops that have recently been deployed is an alien of the same species as Captain Lozano walks down the ramp of the frigate and approaches the turian superior officer and salutes him. He then looks at the quarianswho still doesn't respect authority.

"General, I got you message and decided to come down here personally to take my officers back to the station. They have been through more than they expected?" he responds.

"They have, but they succeeded in their initial goal so the council should be impressed. Rhea T'Anya is in the tent. We also caught that member of the terrorists that attacked us and she is the leader so we believe that she has information useful to us. We'll take her to the station for questioning."

"What about Rhea? Where is she going?" Zeki asks concerned.

Lozano answers for him, "She'll be taken with us to the Citadel if you must know. Shouldn't you be with the rest of your kind?"

"Commander Zeki here stayed and she wants permission to speak to Rhea." Tylirria explains and with a brief pause Lozano nods and Zeki heads towards the tent and enters. After the quarian has left a small mobile transport that was also of turian engineering pulls into the camp and among the group are both Ahern and Anderson who both have had one day they won't forget. They do manage to salute the Captain though he smiles casually, "At ease boys."

Anderson is the first one to speak, "We failed sir, the creature escaped and so did the other terrorists that attacked us."

Lozano acknowledges, "That's okay, we have T'Anya and that's all we were asked to do." he turns to Tylirria, "What do you intend to do about this alien, it's still out there?"

"I have sent scouting parties to try and track it but it will be tricky, our systems seem to be having some interference with our radar." he says meaning that INC was still up to its old tricks, protecting Krieg from detection in the process.

Anderson interrupts, "Sir, if I may. That creature you wanted us to kill, it was wearing stockings and goggles over its face."

"Not the most inventive of disguises but shouldn't be hard to get a visual." Tylirria points out.

Ahern speaks, "A drone accompanied him, sir. Using it to escape."

"A drone? Blue in colour? Turrets?" Tylirria asks as he remembers the machine "That was same drone that freed us from these terrorists. It must have been here for T'Anya, sent on the creature's behalf."

"What about the other machine, the one that looked like turian?" Anderson asks him concerned.

The general says before walks towards the ramp with his human allies, "I recognised the face of the machine that turned from a ship into a turian. It resembles that of one of the pilots that served under an old friend of mine that retired a year ago."

Lozano nods, "So you will be investigating it then, they did attack the Alliance as well we would like to be kept in the loop."

Tylirria sighs, "I'll be honest Captain, your race is new to the galaxy and we have a way of doing things. You've fulfilled you duty in helping capture Rhea T'Anya but too much involvement will not go down well with the Council, they're still monitoring you race after First Contact."

Lozano looks at the turian and knows that humanity is being edged out now the hard work is done, "So you're just dismissing us?"

Tylirria smiles "Go back to Arcturus Captain Lozano, Anderson, Ahern. I feel that you presence will not be productive here anymore, we'll take control of the situation." he says before heading down the ramp and leaving the three humans to watch as the turians take over the land. All three of them have resentment in their faces as humans are no longer number one anymore.

Zeki has entered one of the familiar tents and sees her asari friend tied to a chair though the fact that she was alone and not being watched was comforting as she looks up and smiles towards the sight of her friend who takes a chair and sits opposite her.

"They said that you are going with the humans, to the Citadel. You could escape?"

"It's not worth the hassle. They've wanted me in custody for two years and with my mother no longer able to protect me, there is no stopping them now." Rhea says with a little bit of regret.

"Maybe if you contact her?"

"I've now been arrested twice, by two different Generals. I only got off that time because he was my mother's…boyfriend." she says with a little embarrassment as it sounds almost like she had politics on her side.

Zeki leans in and begins to whisper, "I could break you out, and come to the Flotilla with us. The Council won't reach you there."

She response by smiling more and is happy that her friend holds her in high regard, "But Krinal might, by what you've seen you now know how ruthless these people are. They risked your own people to find us. No, it's the best thing for me at the moment."

Zeki looks at her confused, "At the moment? You sound like this is only temporary."

She smirks with confidence, "Krieg is still alive, I'm sure of it. He'll come looking for me and break me out."

"I'm not so sure, that turian-machine was seen adamant on capturing him." she says when they both observed Sinatarrio and his constant monitoring the situation.

"From what I've seen, Krieg can handle himself for a while." she leans forward though her hands are tied, "Take care of yourself Zeki, I'll miss you."

Zeki hugs her friend for her and looks at her, "I miss you too, friend. I hope we can see each again under less stressful circumstances." She activates her Omni-tool while Tylirria walks inside with his guards ready to take Rhea out and to Pinnacle Station.

The two troops pick her up and escort her across the camp, catching the attention of those around her and she is forced up the ramp a little more civilized than Chavai, who has made it harder for herself by struggling. One of the turians even knocks her down because she is moving around so much. On the frigate that are both placeed on a sit built into the wall and strapped in, both next to each other and to their distain. Chavai looks at the younger asari and she looks at her, though Rhea can't help but look at her facial scars which in this case made Chavai less attractive than most asari. The two are left alone but a guard is close by but their mouths are gagged to prevent contact with each other.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Like Anderson telling Bjorn, Rhea has told Joker the exact same story and Joker shows a little more interest due to the fact that Anderson was somehow involved in her story though the fact that she was in Purgatory for a few years still hasn't become knowledge to the human.

They both stand up from the kitchen and are heading back towards the couch and Joker sits down while Rhea walks to the wall next to her screen and opens a cupboard to reveal a selection of alcohol from across the galaxy. She had everything from human spirits to Ryncol in their but decides to go for a bottle of wine and takes to glasses. She sits down and begins to pour a glass.

"How much do you drink, Rhea?" Joker asks taking glass of wine.

"Not as much as I smoke?" she says wittingly as she takes a sip, "I know what you're thinking, what I am doing isn't great but, it's actually be a while since I've had anything like this."

"Where have you been?"

Rhea decides to avoid the truth, "I was busy."

"Well, I don't normally drink this. The only time I remember having wine was when we defeated Saren." he takes a sip, "Did you ever see Captain Anderson again?"

She shakes her head, "No actually, I heard about his heated feud with Saren. It's strange that I use date the brother of someone who tries to wipe organic life from galaxy and was arrested by his rival." she takes a sip before continuing, "I remember my time in Pinnacle Station, only two days but that was also two days with Krieg stranded on the planet with Delphine, Yox and Sinatarrio and whole unit of Scythe drones ready to capture him. I was more worried for him than myself."


	22. Ghost from Above: Part III

**Chapter XXII: Ghost from Above: Part III**

**13/07/2158- Intai'sei Desert, Phoenix System, Argus Rho Cluster**

The sun was down on the desert planet though it peaked a little over the horizon giving off a beautiful sight as the remaining light rays enter through the openings of a small canyon range below a set of cliffs. It had been two days since Krieg had fled the MSV Angel while coping with his injuries which were only a few but still had a dire effect on him.

The disguise he was wearing is also still on his face which were the stockings he took from the Angel as well as the goggles have help him protect his eyes and hide his identity from Anderson and Ahern who have since returned to civilization. However the noticeably difference is patches forming in certain areas of the stocking, mainly in the chin, eyebrow and cheek region as they were damp and look like he was sweating. The grey alien sits in a grove within the canyon against the rocky wall holding his stomach which is still healing from a gunshot wound and the hole in his Onyx armour was proof of such an injury as well as the hole in his right thigh. He has his shotgun in his other hand, ready for danger when it comes to him because danger was never too far away.

Above the canyons on the cliffs was Sintarrio himself. The turian reborn watches over and waits while he keeps an eye on his small unit of Scythe drones still hunting for Krieg. As he watches Delphine sits and leans against a sleeping Yox who has no real respect for civility as his face is rubbing the hard earth and allows the asari to rest next to him. Though she was bored too, she was glad that she wasn't down in the canyon with Krieg as she hadn't still come to terms that Krieg was alive all along and believed that he was killed a year ago.

Delphine looks at the turian and watches the sun shining off him while at the same time figuring out exactly what he is as Krinal never gave any indication that he existed at all. She gets up and walks beside him taking a look in the canyon seeing the Scythe drones hovering over and scanning for life forms.

"Is he defiantly down there?" she asks retracting herself from the ledge.

Sintarrio turns his head slightly, "Krieg has faced these drones before, and he knows how they work. But something is still blocking my radar and theirs."

"How? If your radar was blocked, how did you trace him here?" she wonders and alludes to INC's recent activity.

The turian remains in deep focus but multitasking isn't a stretch for him, "Originally, something was blocking my radar and then it came back. Being able to pinpoint Krieg for a second I followed him east until the disturbance again and I have had to use more practical methods."

"You've found him? So why do you need us?" she wonders knowing the synthetics outnumber them.

"Captain Chavai is captured and her team is dead, Krinal demanded that I bring back his Acolytes before anyone else. Also I will need your assistance in his capture. Underestimating Krieg is a mistake anyone can make, Krinal made that clear." he replies taking the machine's words seriously and acting about it the same way too.

Delphine isn't very convinced over Krinal's mission, "Why does it want Krieg so badly? Krinal acts like it's obsessed by him. It even went out of the way to purchase him through a third party."

"Indeed. The incident on Omega shouldn't have happened but that lead to the K-Thousand project. Krinal believes that he must make a personal study in order to successful use him, and his trust in others getting the job done has been failing the past through years."

"Trust in others, like Acolytes?" she wonders hoping that she isn't just as disposable as Vetos was.

"Many of those who perform Krinal's will have failed recently and in response he has cut ties or disposed of them personally. That means that when you are given a task, you are expected to succeed." he looks at her in an intimidating fashion.

Down below where Krieg still is keeping hidden a drone has begun hovering above the area and its visual is set to night vision for easier tracking of its target. This becomes more apparent when Krieg can be seen in full view twenty yards away. Krieg however also has good vision at night and as he looks through his goggles he sees the drone flying towards him. Without hesitation the grey alien points his shotgun towards the incoming drone and pulls the trigger. It hits the drone it begins to tilt slightly to the left and manoeuvres itself that way before receiving another shot again when about six foot away only this time in-between its three eyes. Before it can release its tentacles out of its shell, Krieg has put his right foot on one of them and shoots the other off while continuing his onslaught by ripping the drone apart with shell after shell.

Delphine can hear the shots and holds her rifle tight, "Shouldn't we go down there?"

Sintarrio turns back to the canyon and sees a small smoke cloud, "No, he would have already hidden himself again by the time you got down. I can see him myself."

She looks surprised at this new information, "What? You can see Krieg from up here? Why haven't you down anything?"

"From when I pinpointed him I detected that Krieg at this current time is suffering from a wound and his fatigue is less than it should be. Bringing him to this canyon was to wear him down until we can take him back to Korlus with no problems." he crouches down and looks towards the smoke cloud and watches a shadow remove itself from the scene.

"So we're just going to wait until he drops. Well at least we're safe." she admits.

Yox's eyes have opened to the sound of gunfire and screeching, "What that fucking noise?"

"Nice to see you've joined us." she says to him.

Yox turns on his back and widens his eyes to look at the stars, "Two days of chasing a guy across the desert, a nap is entitled."

"The way you snore, I wouldn't consider it a nap." she sits next to him as he sits up, "Sintarrio said to keep alert."

On Pinnacle station not far away from her team Captain Chavai was in a more uncomfortable situation as she was sitting with a cell within the stations interior and a light from the ceiling shining directly into her face. The reason was because she was sitting in one of the station interrogation chair, not very different from the one that what C-Sec use while questioning a suspect. Her wrists were cuffed as well as her ankles while they decided to proceed with additional cuffing around her waist and neck so escape was minimal. Rhea was in the same position in the next room which was a floor below where Tylirria's office was.

The General had recently been cooperating with humanity to educate them of how they do things the 'turian' way or in other respects the Council's way and was currently in contact with another turian. The grey turian is on his desk in the form of hologram, sitting on a chair.

"And the humans didn't cause too much bother?" the turian asks the General.

Tylirria shakes him head, "No Ambassador, but they have retuned back to their headquarters with Captain Lozano. I don't see why we needed them in first place."

"Humanity is the newest addition to the galaxy General and we have to show them the way we do things, otherwise they would continue to be hostile." the Ambassador says as he picks up a drink and sips it.

Tylirria thinks back to the whole ordeal and how things got really out of hand, "Don't I know it? They wanted in on the details badly but I never divulged. We also still have patrols on the planet trying to neutralize the creature."

The Ambassador leans forward, "I see, and what about this 'silver' turian I heard about you report?"

The General thinks to himself and knows that he is going to sound mad but speaks anyway, "Well, I didn't want to put it in there and I was hoping to get a chance to tell all three of you." He thinks back to the image he saw and the familiarity of it, "This thing had a face that was exactly the same as Sintarrio, you know the.-"

"I know who Sintarrio is, General. I believe his body still hasn't been found yet. I will disguse this matter privately with the Council; if this does look like Sintarrio then it means that his current status is compromised. Are you sure it was him?"

He nods to the question, "Positive, the only other person who could give positive identification would be Vinel Rhodius."

"Rhodius has retired, General. And his relationship with Vessana T'Anya makes it clear that he wishes not to be disturbed." he says and knows the reputation that Rhea's mother has as an attorney encase they got out of hand.

"Well, we have her daughter now. What's stoping them from coming back?" Tylirria puts forward knowing maternal instincts are strong for asari.

"Precisely, bring Miss T'Ayna back to the Citadel will make both these matters fix themselves. Just keep her under heavy guard." the Ambassador orders with intention of the General following the order.

"Yes Ambassador, thank you." he says before the hologram fades and the General sees the female volus Lerin entering his office.

"Sir, I have just received contact from Alliance Command. Captain Lozano and his two officers have reached Arcturus unharmed." she informs putting some paperwork on his desk.

"What about Intai'sei? Any word from our scouting units?" he wonders not knowing what was going on down there.

"None sir, we have kept in constant contact but no trace of either the rogue synthetic or the creature itself but they seem to have removed themselves from radar somehow." Lerin informs as she keeps a clipboard to herself, "Are you okay, sir? You look like you have seen something you shouldn't?"

He looks at her and smiles, "I think I have, Lerin. Anyway, what do you need?"

Lerin shows him the clipboard and prepares to speak, "Well, sir. We have to go over some protocol for when the Council's C-Sec officers arrive to pick the prisoners up."

"C-Sec, I thought they would send Spectre's?" Tylirria exclaims feeling that these are important prisoners.

"They will be escorted within a turian frigate and they'll be expecting an official welcome. The preparations are here for you to look at and I'll come and inform on any changes." she walks pass the desk and heads out of the room.

Tylirria look at the view from outside of his office at the ringed gas giant from the asteroid field which always seem to look the same to him. Grabbing his beverage he takes a good look outside and thinking to himself for the stress of the situation is great and it isn't first time anyone has felt this kind of situation. It's not long however before another call comes from his desk and he paces himself over to it, pressing the button and speaking.

"This is General Tylirria."

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Lurik of the Second Patrol. We a have visual on the object you briefed us about. It has been still for about two hours, not movement from its position at all."

"What? It's just standing there?"

"Yes sir, our surveillance also sees an asari and krogan next to it. So it must be controlled by one of them." Tylirria looks at the visuals forwarded to his screen and see an image from a zoomed in camera of Sintarrio in the position he was observing Krieg as well as both Delphine and Yox watching as well. "Sir, the two organics are on the move. Your orders?"

"Move in, kill them all!"

Lieutenant Lurik's intelligence wasn't wrong as both Yox and Delphine were making their way down into the canyon. It was approaching daylight now and therefore Krieg's chance of exposure had increased though he had managed to hide most of the night. The two of them reach the corpse of the Scythe drone that had recently been destroyed by the grey alien, seeing the bullet holes of the shotgun had mutilated Krinal's fine design. Both of them keep vigilante as they know the same could happen to them as the pair of them instead of splitting up they decided to stay together, Yox watching in front while Delphine keeps an eye on the rear, knowing that Krieg could strike anywhere at any time.

Krieg himself was on the other side of the small canyon and has made his way to elevated ground where he can get a better visual on the noise coming from the other side. Unlike the Scythe drones that only made sounds during rapid movement, Yox's footsteps were easier to hear and so when the two of them enter an opening, Krieg pulls out his left pistol and aims towards the Krogan's crest.

He however doesn't anticipate a Scythe drone coming from one of the canyon's alleyways and using its tentacle to knocks the pistol out of Krieg's hand. With this advantage, the drone tackles Krieg and begins using its two front arms to stab Krieg though not very well as Krieg moves from left to right before kicking the drone off. Krieg then is about to stand but the drone is lucky once more and trips him and grabs his ankles, hurling him into the opening nearer the two organic hunters.

He looks up to see the two and doesn't realize that the stockings covering his face make him look ridicules, "Fuck!" he says before he sees Delphine point her rifle and fire. Krieg springs back up and runs to cover behind a few rocks while holding his stomach and keep his shotgun close.

Both of them take cover positions on the opposite side of the gorge. Yox takes a quick look before turning his view to Delphine, "That's defiantly him, he seems weak."

"He is. He would normally harder to catch." she states remembering their encounter on the Citadel. By the time they prepare the rest of the Scythe drones have approached the position and side with the asari and krogan while Sintarrio remains still.

Krieg shoots a drone down and the debris showers over Yox before taking cover again, "I see you've got new friends, Delphine!"

Delphine hates the sound of his voice though his still under the belief that Krieg raped her when it was in fact the clone that had replaced him, "I don't have friends now, Krieg. Thanks to you!"

"Thanks to me? What did I do?" he asks not knowing the full truth.

"Cut the bullshit, Krieg. You'll pay for what you did now I know you're alive!" she runs forward and covers herself closer, "Mind you, your girlfriend paid for you." She says smiling.

"What are you talking about?" is what he asks before two more drones forward themselves towards the alien as he shoots one down before the other tackles him and pins him by digging its arms into the ground.

With this success Delphine gets ahead of herself and pulls her pistol ready to pull the trigger but a pair of drones pulls her away before anything can happen. Yox knew that all they had to do was capture Krieg and nothing more and so she doesn't act at all surprised. Krieg was exhausted from the three day chase and the lack of sleep he was losing his bearings as the light shines on his face to reveal that under his mask he had been bleeding, stains were formed across his cheeks, chin and eyebrows and the loss of blood is making it harder for him to concentrate. Delphine shrugs it off and places herself next to Yox while their leader, Sintarrio has arrived in person. The shining silver turian instead of flying down has decided use his talon feet and hands to climb down with little effort before standing up right to see the Scythe lifting up Krieg in the air.

Sintarrio meets Krieg face to face for the first time, "And finally we meet. Krinal is looking forward with reuniting with you."

"Fuck you…whoever …you are…" is all he can reply with before falling back into a daze.

Sintarrio looks at the alien and isn't surprised at the lack of concentration as it was the turian's initial goal to wear out him, "Oh, my apologies. I am Sintarrio, commander of Krinal's person disciples, the Acolytes."

Krieg regains some concentration though there are pauses between his speech, "Sintarrio?...wait you…had something to do with K-Thousand…didn't you…I remember…"

"If you are referring to you clone that killed all them people, I cannot take responsibility for that. You see that clone had gathered information on us and accidently divulged my name to the Executor before he died, hoping that it would lead to the Scythe's involvement in K-Thousand." he turns to Delphine, "You remember Delphine? She remembers you."

"I saw you with Krinal, you betrayed everyone. Why?" he asks her not knowing anything of what happened.

She looks at him in the eye, "Don't play innocent, Krieg. I haven't forgotten."

"Forgotten what? Can someone fill me in here?" Yox speaks not understanding the situation.

"Enough!" Sintarrio interrupts as he continues "This feeble disguise cannot hide the fact that you are alone in this galaxy. The Council wants you dead and a bounty has been placed by the Shadow Broker for you capture. Krinal offers your life a purpose within its domain."

"Krinal's mad, even for a machine." Krieg says.

Sintarrio remains silent for a few seconds, "Perhaps, but it can protect the ones you love better than you can, believe me I know. It has been very difficult to find you, Krieg. My radar has been scrambled for days, care to explain?"

Krieg realizes that INC is still nearby and must be somehow interfering with the Scythe radar and has been all this time. The former Scythe drone itself is way above the group that has captured Krieg and has a clear visual but is using the time it has to scan the main three subjects which were Yox, Delphine and Sintarrio himself. But while it is doing this it also detects that turian forces are nearby. Using logic it switches the radar scrambler off but keeps its presence a secret as it watches Sintarrio suddenly reacts to the world around him.

"The Hierarchy has found us. Keep guard, you two!" it say before approaching three Scythe drones. Sintarrio places his arm out and one of the Scythe drones hover forward without any form of regret as what is about happened to it is for the turians benefit.

His eyes glow and so do the drones before it begins dismantling itself and becoming part of Sintarrio. His synthetic silver skin begins to cover its self with the shell of the drone fitting over the muscles in perfection and by the time all the useless parts have been disposed. Sintarrio's appearance has changed slightly as his skin has a greyish coating and more akin to a shell and even his face has a stiffer look. Prominent features of the turian such as the collar, fringe and forearms also have additional prominence as well as the ankles. The eyes of the drone are imbedded with Sintarrio's chest in the same formation as they were when it was a drone, two above and one below. Another feature added to Sintarrio is both his forearms and palms both have glowing jewels on them as well.

Without courtesy Sinatrrio rockets himself into the air and a dust cloud follows him. When he is above the canyon and in full view of the turian soldiers his statistics educate him that there are over a hundred soldiers all armed with military-grade weapons. He decides to show his dominance as he looks at the most-damaging targets and pinpoints a vehicle in the centre of the group. Raising his left palm a mass of energy begins glowing and within seconds a beam fires, destroying the vehicle in miler-seconds upon contact. Many turians have jumped out of the way though those who were out of time were less fortunate.

One of those managed to dive out the way was Lieutenant Lurik, the turian who had been in contact with Tylerria. This turian was a light shade of brown and had white marking on his face and was clad in military armour and was carrying a sniper rifle and assault rifle, the latter in his hand as he takes cover behind one of the other vehicles and watches a small mushroom cloud form where the transport once stood.

Delphine can see the cloud just and looks while Yox keeps his eyes on Krieg, "What is this thing? Delphine? I've never seen an alien with this skin tone like this."

"That's why he's a freak for Krinal's collection." Is her answer as she keeps her eye on the skies where Sintarrio is still hovering above.

With Sintarrio out of the way this has proven an opportunity for INC who has slowly hovered down towards the location of the group. In act of impulse it strafes left and fires a few rounds to get the attention of the group and both Yox and Delphine respond with heavy gunfire. The Scythe drones are still and remain as such to the organics confusion as they continue to remain holding Krieg while some hover around like nothing has happened. One of the floating drones however reacts to sudden surge of energy and overloads, falling to the ground and startling Delphine before the same happens to the two drones that hold Krieg in place.

Krieg is getting up off the ground and without hesitation Delphine points her pistol once again but before she can Krieg uses his biotics to charge her and on contact she is knocked into the wall and is knocked out. Yox can't turn around quick enough before Krieg has tripped him up and stamps on the krogan's face, putting him in a daze. He breathes heavily and sees that the remaining drones are incoming but doesn't react as he has nothing left in him.

INC swoops in to his aid as the machine stands in front of him and fire from its turrets instantly destroying the drones as intended upon it creation. INC turns to find Krieg on his knees and the allied drone helps him by placing itself above him and realizing two rods and lowering them around the armpits of the grey alien, tightening to grip him as the machine hovers in the air and accelerates from the scene leaving the Acolytes and the debris of numerous drones behind.

On the battlefield Lurik remains in a covered position while Sintarrio hovered above the troops and opens fire on them. He rains a shower of blue bullets towards larger groups and cutting them down. The organic turian watches him as he lands on his feet and prepares to walk towards the main group. Though the army was firing at him, Sinatrrio's new armour gave him all he needed and when he reaches the nearest turian he grabs the rifle from his hand to act as a catalyst to grab his wrist. He then uses than same turian as a ragdoll and swings him by the wrist, knocking five down with the tool until he discards him by tossing him to his left which ends up being around twenty feet into a buggy.

Lurik changes from his assault rifle to his sniper rifle and heads away from the main area of battle to get a better vantage point. This turian unlike many is showing initiative as he runs to a more elevated area and gets down on one knee so he can stay steady and focus on his target. While he aims Sintarrio is taking no prisoners as he uses the eyes on his forearms to shoot small bullets of thermal energy and each one was having no trouble breaking through the kinetic barriers of the soldier with them falling within two to three shots.

He has to space out the amount of times he does this however as one of his forearms begins to flash indicating that they are overheating and therefore switches to melee tactics. The silver turian uses his back-thrusters to clotheslines a pair of soldiers before kicking the gun out of another while still in mid-air. Krinal's creation didn't just have adaptability and firepower but speed on his side as well as within seconds the soldier lay dead from a broken neck.

Lurik waits patiently while the other soldiers continue to die at the hand of the organic-synthetic hybrid and when a visual of the front is seen he fires a round at the centre chest of Sintarrio. This is affective as the bolt cause rupture within the armour and it cracks to show weakness. Sintarrio looks forward and traces the footsteps of the soldier to see that he is hiding behind another of the vehicles they used to travel these deserts. Sintarrio's expression is that of annoyance as the specific member of the turian army is proving more resistance and so doesn't take any chances with him.

The silver turian stands firm while the eyes on his chest begin absorbing the light as a source of energy and where he releases it the effect is dire for the environment. The turian puts his palms forward and directs another beam of energy at the vehicle only this time the blast range is much bigger as it takes out the rest of the soldiers within the area and a another mushroom cloud forms as a result. The blast even affects those who are still in the canyon as dust and rocks push off the cliff near where Delphine and Yox are now recovering. They cover themselves nearer a wall to avoid rocks falling on top of them.

INC, who is still carrying Krieg has managed to get further away from the blast and turns to trace any signs of life within the cloud. It detects that Sintarrio survived the blast though his armour was greatly damaged but the information on Sintarrio's transformation is of great interest for the machine as it continues to hover across the dessert towards what only can be assumed to be is a form of civilization.

**2185- Rhea Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Sounds like Sintarrio had too much firepower on him if you can call him a 'him'?" Joker remarks.

"It was strange at first but he was fully organic once and retained a form of his identity, but his loyalty in Krinal was so misplaced. It was like he was brainwashed." Rhea concludes showing that even now she had a lack of knowledge about her enemy.

Joker leans forwards and scratches the back of the head, "So when he was mentioned originally during the whole K-Thousand thing, it was unrelated?"

"The clone that killed everyone a year before was 'broken' in the sense that the mind hadn't developed to be loyal and therefore it must have been under a duel-personality. I mean, it could have killed me but didn't though it did send me a warming and told the Executor about Sintarrio before Yanlo killed it." she states clearing a portion of that mystery.

Joker still has question however as he takes a sip of wine, "You said that his skin melded with the drones, what kind of technology is that?"

"Nano-technology. Krinal gave Sintarrio a skin that adapts and reshapes into a form to protects it in space and form to interact with. I guess Krinal never wanted to waist him." she says and begins taking a sip of her wine.

"Well if Krinal worked for the Reapers, it must have known Sovereign or at least its existence?" Joker thinks out allowed but puts it forward.

Rhea smiles and likes the theory, "We never really knew the Scythe's link to the Reaper's but I know for a fact that Krinal was the go-between. But during this time, I was still on Pinnacle Station so I didn't know what had happened."…

**15/07/2158- Pinnacle Station, Phoenix System, Argus Rho**

Tylirria sits on a chair and is looking at a clipboard in his left hand reading the content which involves the skirmish with Sintarrio the day before. His facial expression is that of concern as he also has brought up a few visuals of the turian responsible before he releases the blast and destroys the group of soldiers responsible. He is currently situated outside the station's emergency ward with his volus assistant, Lerin and she isn't as troubled as him though she normally tends to make it not her business what the General gets up to.

Inside the ward there are many doctors and nurses that are tending to one bed while seeming to abandon the others and within the horizontal space is Lurik who he himself survived the blast but got injured greatly during the incident. The left side of his face was burned badly and had been patched back together while his eye is covered in a bandage. The asari doctor is continuing this process when a nurse allows the General and his assistant into the ward. Tylirria sees the various other survivors of the blast though they are now covered up as deceased and turns to see the way cleared to get a good view of the Lieutenant.

He watches the soldier open his eye to him, "Welcome back, Lieutenant. You've been unconscious for a day."

Groans are heard from the injured turian as he looks with his one eye at the extensive damage, "My arm, it feels, I can't feel it."

The doctor turns to the General, "His arms got a dose of the blast, and it's beyond repair. We're going to have to amputate it."

"I see. Is there any alternatives?" he asks with concern

"Well, when we get him back to the Citadel, we can replace it with a synthetic limb. But I don't though about such things extensively." the doctor says before leaving with the rest of the medical staff.

Tylirria smiles and sits on the bed by him, "Well it seems that video from the incident shows the enemy we're dealing with."

Lurik closes his eye and remains rested, "Sir, with all due respect I don't feel too good."

The General stands and look over towards the window of the ward, "Lurik, before we leave you, did you find anything out about this weapon?"

"It caused so much damage…I had to find a weakness but…but when I did I killed everyone." he answers feeling guilty over what happened.

"You're not to blame, Luirk. If you didn't, you would've been killed by its gunfire. Lerin can you prepare this bed to be transported with C-Sec."

Lurik's eye widens, "C-Sec…what's going on?"

The General turns with a reassuring face, "Your being transported back to the Citadel, as the only witness the Council wishes your presence, in fact they are more than interested in you."

"What are you talking about?" he asks confused over the situation.

"The Council were intended to make you a Spectre in a few months and you surviving this can go both ways. Either your too broken or too valuable, it's their decision." the General states.

Lurik looks surprised, "Why would Spectre's want me?"

"This isn't the first time you've been in this sort of situation; I can number three other instances where you have succeeded in surviving while completing your mission." Tylirria says in admiration and begins to head towards the door.

"But I didn't complete my mission, sir."

The General stops knowing that he is right, "No, no you didn't. But you're alive. We lost many men yesterday. Me and Lerin are going to have to sort out the various protocol."

"Sir?" Lurik says and the General turns in response, "What happened to the machine?"

Tylirria turns away and sighs, "We don't know." Before walking out with Lerin, the volus tries to keep up with the taller alien, "Lerin, inform the Citadel to make haste with their transport." He says before they head into the elevator.

On the station's docking port not many ships were moving though it was considered busy as those wanting to try the simulation normally stay for a few days rather than try and leave. It had been a full day since INC was successful in rescuing Krieg though it hadn't been without sacrifice as Rhea was imprisoned on the station.

She remains in her restriction chair and sits bored to the ends of the universe as it has now been four days since she was escorted off Intai'sei. Despite her problems the next event would affect everyone on the station as within seconds the power shuts down in the majority of the station. Simulations disappear, elevator's jam and finally the chair opens, allowing the asari to stand before it powers comes back on.

Rhea was free and knew that INC had something to do with this as it had been tampering with systems lately and therefore would be the only viable source of this action. She doesn't waste time and walks out her cell to see she is not the only one who has broken out as Chavai is lucky as well. They are both unarmed but both are ready to confront each other as both of the asari power up their biotics and push one another back with Rhea hitting the wall behind her and Chavai sliding across the floor, less painful for her.

"No point in trying to kill me, T'Anya. You're wanted by the Citadel as it is." Chavai says getting on too her knees and firing a shockwave towards her.

Rhea only just manages to dive out of the way and return with another push, this time more successful as Chavai hits the wall. She continues the assault by charging towards her and pulling her from twenty feet away so she can dropkick her on impact. Before collision, Chavai manoeuvres herself to horizontally role across Rhea's body and land on her feet; she then slams the less experienced member of the species. Rhea isn't going to quit as she uses a singularity, a more advanced power for her but is successful in causing Chavai's body to float. Not taking another change at hand-to-hand, Rhea uses warp. The disc of energy hits Chavai by surprise and she is knocked to the ground leaving her disorientated and allowing Rhea is getting away.

The victor turns the corner to see three turian guards and immediately uses another singularity before running through them towards another elevator, only to be greeted by Tyllira and Lerin, both unexpected. She uses pull on the turian, brings him out of the elevator while she enters and begins to breathe heavily after using so much energy. "That was unexpected." She says before looking at Lerin, the volus shocked and frightened for her own life as Rhea is technically a prisoner breaking out. "Errr, sorry about this."

"No problem." She says holding her back against the wall.

"Where is the hanger bay?"

"Middle deck."

"Thanks." she says before pressing the button and waiting a few seconds before the pair reach the middle deck of the station to see something familiar.

INC was aboard and was within the hanger bay defending a turian drop shuttle that they used to get down onto planets. The shuttle was simplistic in design and had a pointed nose with the rest of the ship being rectangular while the sides had small fins pointing downward and one fin on the top. The ramp was on the left-hand side and from there INC holds the fort as with little effect targets and guns down the turians with his turrets, hitting them in non-lethal areas.

His success is doubled when Rhea jumps down from a nearby balcony to land on another, using her biotics to slow her fall. She jumps and takes down a turian from behind knocking him to his knees before using his hand to direct a few bullets in a neighbouring guard. She disarms him and uses yet another singularity, causing a group to float towards the temporary black hole as she boards the shuttle and INC follows her in.

Lerin watches from two floors up as the shuttle is exposed to fire but the turians give up when it leaves the port via the opening with many of the turians helping the injured ones as INC was careful where to shoot them. She scurries back towards the elevators and tries and pressed the button back to her intended floor. A few seconds and she is back at the detention block and sees that the guards have been killed by gunfire which she knows Rhea isn't responsible for because she witness her use only her biotics on those guards.

The volus continues walking down the hallway where a few more guards have been killed until she reaches Tylirria's office. At first she presses the button to open the door but it jammed halfway though it isn't much of a problem for the volus as the door has opened up enough for her to duck underneath and enter. She looks at the office a sees no real damage but the sight of the General leaves her in a room of fear.

Tylirria had been killed with a single bullet wound to the head and was sitting in his chair. His head is resting on the table and a small pool of blood forming around him. His eyes were still open and his console was the same. Lerin crouches back under the door to get help.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker gets up and stretches his limbs before heading towards the kitchen and opening the fridge. He opens it and takes out the birthday cake that Rhea had for a few years and cuts himself pieces for the two of them though Rhea collects her own while still holding her wine. She sits at the table again and using a desert spoon to cut herself a piece and eat it. Joker sits down beside her and notices guilt on her face though doesn't really understand why.

"What's wrong?" Joker asks with concern.

She lets out a sigh, "I was just thinking about that time. Despite Krieg changing my life it was that day when I lost faith in the Council. Despite me not being responsible for Tylirria's death I was blamed, being the only official prisoner on record."

"What about that other one, Chavai? She was there."

"Yeah, Chavai escaped too though because she was raised by the Scythe and no one else, she didn't technically exist on records." she takes bite of her cake, "In fact it was the Scythe way to do such things. You see the one thing I found out about the Scythe was that they had sex with other races for children."

"I thought they were asari supremacist?" Joker recalls.

"They were but the fact they could mate with any race made the Scythe feel superior unlike races with two genders. They mated with turians, krogan, you name it. In fact one of the reasons why people were content with Krinal making his Acolytes people from different races was because it was an easy source of reproducing."

"You mean people like Yox could pretty much have anyone in the organization." Joker says liking the sound of the position he was in.

She smiles and takes another bite, "Acolytes who served Krinal would eventually be propositioned by Scythe matrons. However the proposition is normally a single encounter though it happens multiple times."

"That makes sense, the birth is quiet and that means they can become anyone they need to be. So was this even hidden from the Shadow Broker." he asks him.

"The Shadow broker was aware of the Scythe's existence but only through images and the information was normally second hand or useless. In fact I believe it was frustrating for Shadow Broker's agents because the Scythe, especially under Krinal were very good at hiding their bases and positions, as well as their acolytes." she informs, "Krinal's allies normally worked for the Shadow broker in some shape or form, especially those in politics."

"Why didn't they exchange information on Krinal?"

"Krinal made it clear to most agents and Acolytes that divulged anything of the Scythe's existence would cost not them but their families. Vetos for example served the Scythe not only because he wanted to but because if he didn't then from what I gathered was that Krinal would detonate the explosive in his mother's pacemaker he planted during her surgery." she informs though the sound of such an act is repulsive.

Joker is surprised by such ruthlessness, "And so he was willing to kill others for their loyalty."

"Yeah. I'll be honest Joker, the incident with Tylirria was what would make me a false criminal. I haven't been cleared of the act either."

Joker stops eating and realizes the source of her guilty face, "So you're a wanted criminal? For a murder you 'didn't' commit?"

She nods, "The Council couldn't find the video evidence of the killer and with Chavai gone they came to one conclusion, me. A few years ago they finally caught me and I was serving my sentence in Purgatory." she reveals though this was known to Anderson, Ahern and other important military figures who were involved in the group.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"The same reason why I didn't tell you about my mission here, you wouldn't have trusted me. When you arrived with Shepard to recruit Jack, Warden Kuril had me in high level security as well. The Council paid handsomely to keep me there and when Jack went on that rampage, I seized the opportunity to escape, being successful of course."

"So what have you done in such a small amount of time?"

"Well my organization had fallen apart without me though the core members remained loyal. We haven't been back together long but we came here for a number of reasons, the Normandy being here was one of them. However getting a chance to meet a member of the crew would be useful."

"So I'm a resource?" Joker says not impressed but forgives nevertheless.

"It's not like that. Joker you unlike most would be considered among us as a true enemy of the Reapers along with anyone who knows their existence. When I was accused of cold-blooded murder, I had to adapt and so did Krieg, his change really affected us."…

**15/07/2158- Intai'sei Desert, Phoenix System, Argus Rho**

Sintarrio is still on the planet where he had killed many turians for the sake of Lurik who out of all of them was able to find a progressive weakness while in combat. The consequences of Sintarrrio's response have left a crater sloping into the canyon. The rocks that formed the cliff are at the bottom of the slope where they have filled some of the hole though not without taking prisoners as Delphine and Yox were victim to the rock fall and it has been a whole day since it's happened.

Sintarrio himself is approaching the area via his spike form and lands at the edge of the crater into his turian form and scans the area in which the two Acolytes were last seen. Picking up heat signatures of the both the asari and krogan he leaps within feet of their location and begins digging, using his hands to lift rocks half his size and tossing them to his left and right. Sintarrio lifts up the final rock to see a look of annoyance and discomfort from Delphine who is crammed in small space with Yox. The truian picks her out first and places her by his feet before she crawls away when he lifts Yox out with the same little effort.

"You could have come here sooner?" she says wiping the dust off her legs.

Sintarrio remains still, "The mission takes prerogative. Krieg has evaded capture once again because of your failure."

"It wasn't our fault! That drone made varren skins of us, taking out the other drones with little effort." Yox replies stretching his back.

"That drone? What drone?" the turian face is that of intrigue as he remembers being in control of most.

"It looked like one of ours except it was dark blue and had turrets. It must have been tracking us. It took Krieg away, like it was protecting him." Delphine informs him and sits on a rock.

"This is disturbing. We will have to address the Emissary immediately." he states while switching on his hearing device, "Emissary, this Acolyte Sintarrio requesting your assistance."

A silence is heard before a slight breathing, "This is Emissary Krinal. You may speak Acolytes Sintarrio, Delphine, Yox."

The Acolyte remains calm though he shows respect, "My Emissary, the mission has failed but new data suggests a viable reason?"

"I see, your failure is disturbing but continue by all means."

He walks away from the pair and continues to speak, "Emissary, since the initial mission has begun I have had temporal interference from an unknown source. It's come to my understanding that Krieg has adapted one of your drones as a personal aide, having the ability to disrupt our radar."

"Is that so? Then your failure has been justified. Again I seem to underestimate him…return to base." the channel cuts off leaving the trio on the planet ready to leave.

On the turian shuttle that both Rhea and INC escaped on, the group have just exited a mass relay, showing that they were successful in escaping the Argos Rho cluster and are now relaxing amongst themselves. Rhea remains in the pilot's chair while INC is tending to Krieg who hasn't shown himself properly ever since Rhea reunited with them. Rhea looks back and sees that INC is scanning the grey alien's body but there isn't anything more that it can do.

Rhea gets out the chair and switches the ship to auto-pilot, heading into the space normally used for transport but Krieg has been lying on the medical stretcher for a day. She picks up the clipboard to see what is wrong with him but sees no information.

"Scanning: Krieg's condition is stable though his current state is merely psychological."

A groan can be heard from him as Rhea puts her right hand on his shoulder feeling something unfamiliar, "His skin seem rougher than usual." she continues to examine his back and feels the scar trailing down in his spine, "Krieg, what's wrong?"

A sigh is heard from him as he sits up the dark room covering his face as he keeps it buried in his chest, "I understand now. Why I…why I passed out and fell asleep for so long. Why I had pains in my face since I woke up. The swelling, the bleeding and I get this of all things." Krieg lift his head up and Rhea expression turns from concern to shock.

Krieg stands up so she can see his face which has new features. Rhea watches him get close so that she can see what has happened to his face and sees that type of fungus has formed in certain areas of the head though they are to precise for them to be a kind of disease. The fungus was formulated as scale-like trails though they were very untidy due to them just forming on his face. They were the same colour as his skin though because of the light it made them seem darker and more pronounced.

On the lower half of his face, the scales start at the side of chin and trail their way up the jaw line and crossing his neck to reach his spine. The start of these scales also trail down the neck as well, having two lines on the sides of the Adam's apple. These were very untidy and if compared to anything it would give of the impression of a beard except the small scales are pointed. His eyebrow and cheekbones also have these scales as the former runs towards his ear-hole and a small ear like bump has formed on the topside of the hole while the latter cheek scales are rough and have grown like the chin but are only joined to the eyebrows via the nose, which as thickened at the bridge.

Rhea is at first scared as Krieg looks more feral than he did but looks into his black eyes and sees that he still is the same. She walks up to him and feels the rough scales on his face and the blood that had stained his face as they were forming, "What's happened to you?"

"I don't know, but the swelling around my face has gone and these 'things' have replaced them. INC informed me that they can be filed down after they harden but they're still tender." he answers sitting back on the stretcher and feeling the tips of the scales.

Rhea sits down next to him and puts her hand on his back, "So the coma, the swelling of your face was just coming up to this? INC can you shed some light?"

INC stays still and wait's a few seconds, "Processing Theory: This is a natural occurrence in Krieg's anatomy, akin to maturity though the hypothesis of why this occurred maybe due to cryogenic exposure suppressing certain genetics from forming at the appropriate time."

"Well, whatever it is you seem okay now." she takes a look at his stomach and feels his wound that. She is startled when he places his hand on top of hers, "It's okay, I was just…"

"It fine, I'm fine. This look is temporary, I'll find some way to tidy it up for you." he says in a reassuring tone as she lets her take her hand back.

"Do you feel anything else? Any pain? Any strange feelings?" she asks knowing that her limit as a doctor is unreliable now.

Krieg stands up and looks at his body flexing his muscles, "No pain but I do feel better. My body feels stronger after the day's rest I've had and my wound will heal properly in a few weeks." he turns and smiles to her, "Thanks to you."

She tilts her head and smiles, "I just hope you okay. This thing with you face doesn't change anything, I still trust you."

"Would you trust me if I had no face at all?" he asks honestly.

She hugs him, "I'd trust you with my life."

Krieg smiles as he sees that INC is watching the two of them though the reason for the action is unknown as they break the hug and she heads back to the pilot's chair and Krieg remains on the bed and feels his face's new look once again by flicking the ends of the cartilage-like scales.


	23. Moneymakers & Lawbreakers

**Chapter XXIII: Moneymakers & Lawbreakers**

**17/08/2159- Invictus, Caestrus, Minos Wasteland**

Thirteen months have passed since Rhea had escaped from Pinnacle Station and has since become a public enemy due to her being accused of killing General Tylirria. This is something that she didn't do though that doesn't stop her being accused due to her capture being the only 'official' one, letting Chavai off. Her reputation has changed even to her surprise and Krieg's as the two of them were in a new line of work, more parallel with her reputation as a criminal.

The asari is currently running down an alleyway with a jet blue briefcase in her left hand and a pistol in her right shooting behind her towards a pair of turians and by their attire they were officers of the law. She herself was wearing light Scorpion armor and the model of pistol was Hahne-Kadar, a human manufacturer. She had her helmet on to hide her face as her identity was now common knowledge among the law agencies.

She isn't alone as is INC was with her though it wasn't joining in the gunplay rather hovering in front and guiding Rhea in the right direction as they run down the slope of this alley way and meet a drop leading to a balcony that would be considered a street as there were air-cars flying past it. Rhea is more athletic than she was and uses it to her advantage as she vaults over a volus who falls over as a result the slides under a hanar's multiple legs and regains her running posture and finally finishes when she reaches the corner of the balcony that heads left across a bridge with the right encircling the same building.

She takes a left and heads up the ramp and over the bridge which is crowded with bystanders as were many turians with this was a colony of that race but not on the scale as some of cities when comparing it to a place like Illium. She pushes her way past a few people but keeps her eye on the right hand side and sees that a blue air-car is riding alongside the balcony though there isn't an allocated freeway to do so.

When she gets close enough to the edge she waits for the left side's door to open and INC enters the back seat while the driver is Krieg though he is in full armour of the same make with the addition of his personal belt. He catches the briefcase she tosses before she leaps into the side of the car and straps herself in.

"What took you so long?" he asks her while shutting the door and taking a hard right back on the freeway.

"Negative: We are right on schedule." INC says contradicting the alien.

"I didn't know that the fucking law would be so tight." she says taking off her helmet and putting it on the back seat.

"You robbed a set of biotic amps, you didn't think they 'wouldn't' protect their goods?" he says keeping his eye on the traffic while speeding way above the limit. He does another hard left while seeing that two air-cars are on their tail.

"Just get us out of here?" she orders him as the car chase begins.

The pair are dodging traffic well and giving the police a hard time as they have to deal with the traffic diverting from Krieg's driving. One of them decides to drives out of the freeway in hope of gaining some ground on the car but the model that the trio had was built for speed and not endurance. The other car manages eventually to get to the tail of the vehicle and bumps it on the back and in response, Krieg flies straight down and into a lane going the opposite way. Careful timing makes a successful transition and lucky for them it disorientates the law who are still trying to regroup.

"How many credits worth is in there?" he wonders as they have plans for the contents.

"These are brand new. Must be half a million credits at least, maybe more." she answers while examining them not paying attention to the chase outside, "Maybe we could get a million for them?"

"That's pushing it I think?" he says before refocusing back on the roads.

"Warning: Krieg, the Security Services are still in pursuit." INC informs and is right as Krieg looks at the screen at the side board and sees them.

The two police cars have made their way back onto Krieg and Rhea's tail and this time they are more aggressive compared to before as his driving had taunted them into driving more recklessly. The leading car attempts to ram Krieg off the freeway before they enter the tunnel and the first impact causes Krieg to hit an air-van, knocking them off the freeway and having to stop before it hit a nearby building.

Krieg won't fall for the same attempt twice when he quickly gets back on track and when the car attempts to ram again Krieg elevates above and allows the police car to swoop underneath and miss the tunnel, crashing but not enough to cause an explosion. The rear car follows through the tunnel though being in the position they were in, the two turian officers inside can't find the blue car that the pair were in and when they exit the tunnel they have officially lost them both to their annoyance. The tunnel exit has a small underpass underneath and Krieg was quick to park them there as they were out of the light and in a darkened space.

Rhea sighs in relief and leans back laughing, "What a rush."

Krieg takes his helmet off and his current form is a little more presentable than before as he has cleared the blood up from the now scaled areas of his face and has managed to file them down to a more presentable length, becoming more decorative than irritating. His hair has been laced together and is slicked back so the ends are at the back rather than draping down. He takes the briefcase and looks at one of the amps himself, "Mm…these are good quality. Who are we selling them to?"

She puts her hand behind her head, "Brek Littirian, I have to call him to see where he wants to meet." she watches him scan the quality of the amp, "Are they good?"

"Yeah. They seem good, very good actually. We may be able to get a million out of them as you said." he passes her the briefcase and starts to drive again heading back on the freeway without the worry of a car chase, "So when do we get off this planet?"

"As soon as possible. INC, can you organize a vacation cruiser for us?" she says look at the drone.

"No Rhea, we can't go on one of them. Get us something to somewhere else in the Terminus Systems."

"Come on, Krieg. What's a month on vacation going to do to us?" Rhea says smiling with a puppy dog look.

Krieg looks at her and smiles, "No. INC gets us tickets for the first civilian freighter."

She shrugs, "Oh well, I tried. One day."

"When you're in the clear, you can have a lifetimes worth of vacation time." Krieg assures as he reaches over across the glove box and takes gumball and puts it in his mouth, "INC, put some music on….err something human." he says as INC begins emitting the sound of what sounds like techno sound though has elements of rock.

Rhea watches him as he chews, "You like this music?" she asks not really getting the vibe though neither is he.

"I don't know? But what's wrong with something new? We're wearing human-made armour, using their weapons. Can't we enjoy anything else but that?" he says smiling though he asks, "You don't like human music?"

"I never really cared." she answers rubbing her eyes.

"I tell you what, how about we compromise. Instead of going on a vacation cruise, we go to a human colony where it's nice and quiet."

Rhea looks down and thinks to herself, "Okay, I like that idea. As soon as we finish this deal."

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Wait, wait, wait. You were accused of murder and instead of proving you innocence you turned to crime?" Joker takes another sip of wine and shakes his head but with the truth of her being in Purgatory he wasn't surprised.

Rhea was smoking while talking about it with the cigarette in the same hand as her glass as she takes sip as well, "In fact with those thirteen months, me and Krieg had committed over two dozen robberies. We hired out our services for cuts of the deal of we stole certain items then traded them for cash. We were a good team; we made a bunch of credits as well."

"I'm surprised that you managed to commit a crime in a turian colony though." Joker remarks knowing the turian laws are stricter than most human governments.

"We had been on Invictus for a month and we knew that soon we would have to move on."

"What about the Council? Weren't they still after you?"

"I was wanted at the Council but because of my mother's reputation only certain parties were privy to the bounty on my head, namely the Spectre's but we stayed to low under the radar for anyone to track us and they wouldn't chase us into the Terminus. Those who were in the Terminus Systems didn't care either as they were just as wanted, so we hid out there." she takes another smoke, "We normally used fake names as well, changing our identity each time a job was finished."

"Good strategy, did the Scythe have trouble as well?"

"The Scythe was always chasing us. Chavai and the main faction began focusing on other interests while Krinal and his Acolytes still put capturing Krieg as their top priority. Krinal had Yox, Delphine, Sintarrio and other agents scouring the galaxy for us but they were happy to use other sources to reach us. Not long after we did that heist we were given a better offer."…

**20/08/2159- Invictus, Caestrus, Minos Wasteland**

It's been three days since their getaway and the pair are now within a small room with two single beds, one of many as this was a lower-class motel room and being of turian design it was cheap-looking but study, replacing taste for reliance. The silver wall were rusted alittle and the console that was available to the pair was sub-standard but useful nonetheless as Rhea was currently reading recent reports on their exploits as she has numerous windows on each incident and each one is reported like it was unrelated. Krieg was lying on the bed sleeping with his feet resting on top of INC. Rhea takes a sip of her water before continuing her typing as she is replying also to an email she received from a potential buyer of the amps they stole which the briefcase was sitting on her bed.

She smiles as she turns to him, "Hey, Krieg. Wake up!"

The grey alien groans before turning on his side, "Go to bed, Rhea."

"No, Krieg. We have a buyer some who is willing to pay two million credits for those amps?"

Krieg's eyes open and he sits up a little to see the screen, "Who?"

She takes a look at the message and sees that it's a Citadel account, "Some person in politics who has ties to a manufacturer, names Nassasa Dantius." she says in a trivial fashion not knowing who she was.

"Dantius, she sounds familiar?" Krieg says getting up and looking at the screen, "Where did she say she'd meet us?"

She points to a location within the city, "Well, she said she would meet us here in the diamond quarter. The place is secluded and we wouldn't have to worry about the Council knowing. She is acting on behalf of asari company wanting knowledge on the competition."

"Sounds too good to be true." Krieg knows that everything is set up to be as such.

"And too good to pass, this amount of money could keep us going for years in the Terminus." she says trying to convince him.

Krieg sighs and knows that the amount that Nassana is offering is a lot, "Okay, we'll make it a quick transaction between us. No funny business."

She looks at him and smiles, "We could get an extra half a million."

Krieg walks over to his bed and reaches underneath for the weapons he is carrying at this current time. He has a pair of Kessler pistols and puts them on his hips and takes his other weapon, a Storm shotgun and places it on his lower back. "If we trade with this Dantius, then the turian we promised isn't going to be happy. We'll need to take them out."

"How are we going to do that?" Rhea asks in a worried tone.

He turns to see that look, "Don't worry. I'll take care of him and his goon. Just give me the location of their local meet and I'll-"

"Krieg, we don't have to kill them." she says standing up and sitting on her bed.

"Littirian is powerful, Rhea. If we don't give him what he wants he will try to find us and kill us. We either kill him or flee. Your choice."

"We flee, let's take the car to the meet and make a few million." she says with confidence.

While the pair are in the less desirable quarter of the city the entertainment district was high with life as people everywhere were enjoying each other's company while doing the same things that are done on the Citadel such as drinking and dancing with music unrecognizable to most tastes. The district however was heavily guarded and patrolled by turian officers as a warning more than anything as the when a turian gets drunk or out of line they step in and escort him to the nearest area to recover their bearings which they were doing with and undesirable outside of a club that was nicknamed after its owner, Brek's.

The clubs was dance club like most and most of its patrons were turians and some asari who were popular among many males while the security was Brek's personal choice, being either krogan, turians or batarians wearing medium colossus armour and armed with pistols of their own. Though Brek was his first name people referred to him by his last name as he sits in a secluded corner of his club and wears expensive attire. The turian wears a suit made of alpha varren skin and the red scaled jacket drapes down near his ankles while the collar was better padded and his inner clothing is black with red pattern on top. Littirian himself was a white turian and had blue marking representing his colony.

He sits alone until he sees an asari approach and sit beside him, "Where have you been?"

The asari had a purple complexion and was young and wearing a long red skirt with no sleeves, "Shopping." she answers in an uncaring tone.

Littirian grabs her wrist and pulls her close, "Don't talk to me like that, you filthy bitch." and pushes her away and grabs his drink, "What did you buy?"

She doesn't look at him, "I bought some outfits and some jewellery."

He leans back, "Nothing different then, how much did you spend?"

"Just twenty-thousand." she says getting close to him and letting her put his arm around her.

Approaching the pair of them is a volus wearing a green suit with black trimmings as he sits down next to the turian and sighs, "Brek, you really tearing one out of my suit." he says getting comfortable, "I've spoken to the family of that guy you hit with your car and they are willing to forget the whole thing if you pay for the surgery and an addition donation."

"What's in for me, Dogar? I cant help it if drunken bastards come walking in the way." he says while paying attention to his asari friend.

Dogar shakes his head, "I think you should take this deal, the law will do anything to get you into court." he looks at the asari who is putting the turian off with her seduction, "Does she have to be here?"

"There nothing you can say to me that you can't say to my Yolina here." he says as he licks her cheek and she giggles.

"Yet you tell me not to talk business with you wife." he replies stopping both of them enjoying themselves.

Littiran leans forward on the table, "Don't talk about her in here. Fine! I'll pay for the surgery. Are you happy?" he turns back to Yolina as she begins moving her hand down towards his crotch, "How about me and you head into my office and sort out those expenses?"

She continues to turn him on, "Don't worry, everything I bought can be sorted out." she says kiss his neck.

Littirian smiles but his pleasure is short lived as he sees that he has guests he didn't expect. Standing at the other end of the table are the Scythe Acolytes Delphine and Yox now wearing more formal attire to fit in with the civilians along with their other 'associate'. With the two of them was another Acolyte, a blue salarian who also wears black formal attire as well. Standing with them is one of his turian bouncer who coughs before speaking, "Sir, these are the people who are interested in the amps. They've came earlier than expected."

The turian gangster looks at the group and sees that by the way he stands the salarian is in charge, "Please, sit down. I didn't expect you until next week? What brings you here so soon?"

The salarian sits down and puts a briefcase on the table, "Sorry for the haste Mister Littirian but we have more pressing concerns with our deal."

He leans forward and doesn't like the sound of his tone, "We had a deal Sedath. The amps for the weapons."

"Yes, we actually wonder if you know who has actually robbed the amps for you?" he asks making Littirian confused, "You are aware that the asari you hired is wanted in Citadel space?"

"So half my bouncers, so what?" the salarians passes him a file and he opens it to reveal Rhea's profile, "I see. Quite a reward for her."

Yolina sees the bounty and her jaw drops, "Brekkie, look how much there paying for her alive."

He looks up at them and puts the file on the table, "What do you want?"

The salarian smiles, "Well, it's not Miss T'Anya as she is really called that we are interested in. You are aware of her accomplice?"

Littirian thinks to himself and looks to Dogar for assistance, "Dogar, who was that other one with her?"

"He was an alien from one of the lesser races I believe though we couldn't really identify him." the accountant informs.

"Yes, well this alien is important to our employer and with the blessing of both the former and you we would like to propose another deal?" Sedath says and waits for a silent nod from the gangster, "We want you to go ahead and do the deal, only we will aide you in capturing the pair. We get what we want and you get what you want, your money for the amps and Rhea's bounty, extra pay. How does that sound?"

He looks at Dogar and gets close to him, "What do you think? We could get some more money out this deal."

"We can, but is double crossing them a good idea?" Dogar asks to him.

"If I have the asari's bounty, I'll be set for a long time and early retirement." he says before standing, "We have a deal, now let me buy you all a drink."

Sedath stands up and smiles at his two subordinates, "Well, looks like this isn't going to be a total fuck up as the humans say. We were lucky to locate them here, letting them get away again is not an option."

Delphine looks annoyed as she is reminded at how Intai'sei ended, "We know."

"Well, I'm off to report this to the Emissary, you two enjoy yourself tonight. I'll meet you at midday to get your equipment." the salarian says and heads towards the exit of the club.

Yox seems to have already made himself at home as he sits next to Dogar to the volus' discomfort while Delphine plants herself next to Yolina and gets close to her. Delphine's taste hasn't changed since her night with Rhea and she seems to be more attracted to her own kind as she rubs Yolina's leg while Yolina rubs Littirian's.

Outside of the club Krieg is leaning on the wall across the street and looks over towards the other balcony and watches carefully. He looks over and sees Sedath leaving the club nodding to the turian officers patrolling as he leaves. If Krieg watches him then he knows that he is linked to those he went in with as Krieg watched both Delphine and Yox enter the club but knows that getting too close to his current employer while the enemy is there is very dangerous and so doesn't bother and has the information he needs anyway.

He does however fancy a drink and heads around the corner to a small place that look very low-key compared to Littirian's dance club. The club in question was in fact a strip club though Krieg has no interest in the local entertainment as they were filled with asari maidens half naked and even turian women for the locals. At the bar is a batarian that is cleaning a glass with a hand towel.

Krieg sits at the bar, "Get me a glass of your kind's ale." he says and the alien abides placing the beverage in a small glass due to its potency, "What kind of bar is this?"

"The kind that people come to for a little 'entertainment' if you know what I mean?" the bartender answers.

Krieg takes off his helmet and gets a better look at the asari stripper before taking a sip of ale, "Do the law know about this place?"

The batarians leans on the counter and points to a couple of male turians admiring a female of their kind, "Those are the law. The turians don't care about your private life as long as you do your job. There are even people taking Red Sand in the back, the human kind."

Krieg takes a sip of his drink, "I don't suppose that you know a thing about the goings on around here?"

"I might. What are your questions?"

"Tell me about the guy who owns the dance club across the way." Krieg refers to Littirian though he is aware of who he is.

"You mean Brek Littirian? He's the local go-to guy if you want something taken care of. He can get you anything from women, credits even fake identification but he doesn't do it without a price, and some of the deals he does with external parties always have the law watching him."

"So it's not good to be around him too long?"

"Exactly, even talking about him can get people into trouble." the batarian looks at Krieg side and sees an asari maiden approach him sitting at his side, "Hey Lasia, you know Littirian's reputation don't you?"

"Hell yeah, that bastard's thugs come in here and pay cheap for a quick fuck. Can I get a Ryncol for the gentlemen over there please?" she says referring to the krogan who she was entertaining. While the bartender complies she looks at Krieg and leans against the counter letting him look at her cleavage and stomach, "I haven't seen you in here before. New here?"

Krieg doesn't pay attention to her and just drinks his ale, "Just passing through. I take it you work here?"

"Twenty years, never gets old here." she says getting a bit closer and begins trailing her finger around the small scales above his ear hole, "Want some company for a while? I don't bite."

Krieg smiles, "No thanks, I don't want to waste your time."

She smiles and whisper, "You wouldn't be. Come on, bring you drink." she takes his hand and leads him to a private booth giving him some special treatment as she closes the door begins to dance for Krieg.

He isn't uncomfortable but didn't have this in mind as all he wanted was a drink as he sits down on the small couch built into the claustrophobic space. He watches her dance while he drinks his ale and catches her eye a few times, "So where are from, originally?"

"I was raised in the colonies, why?"

"Just wondering." he is startled when Lasia puts one of her legs on the couch and begins undressing her upper half. He immediately tries to stand up, "Whoa, this too much." however he is pushed back down and the asari sits on his lap, "Listen I-"

She puts her finger against his mouth, "Shhh…you talk too much. Is there another girl?"

"What? Sort of." he says referring to Rhea though he doesn't name her, "I don't think she would approve of this."

"She doesn't have to know, you look like a guy who is tense. Let me…"

Krieg removes her from him and stands up leaving her, "I don't think so, you seem like you enjoy whatever it is you do for credits. But I can't do this sort of thing without it feeling wrong." he says before finishing his ale and putting it on the small side table and walks out of the same room leaving her alone.

Across the street above the club and in Littirian private residence both Yox and Dogar are both playing what looks like cards with a few other guards as the krogan is in the kitchen and has a ryncol to drink and only staying with them for the sake of his fellow Acolyte. Delphine was in the next room which was Littiran's bedroom only Littirian was on the bed in full clothing as he watches his mistress Yolina lying next to him with Delphine on top.

The two have their top halves are exposed and pressing against one another and all locking lips for different reason. Delphine was doing it for the pleasure but Yolina was constantly gazing at Littirian, who was enjoying the sight of what he sees as he watches Delphine move to pecking her neck and cupping her. He smiles as for him it isn't technically cheating as he isn't having any physical contact with either of them but likes to watch though much to Yolina's distaste.

Outside Yox and Dogar move away from the poker game towards looking at the Strastinsio skyline. Dogar is the first to speak, "So what is going on in there? Is your asari friend fucking my employer?"

"More likely her focus is on his wife. She has taste for her kind, don't ask me why." Yox says as he sips his drink, "So what's it like working for a turian? I bet it's a drag."

Dogar laughs, "It has its moments, and keeping track of Brek's accounts is interesting. Dividing his wife's and his mistress's purchases keep me in the job. It's a shame; his father wouldn't allow such behaviour."

"What? Having a wife and asari at the same time?"

"Yes, despite my protests he continues this affair and its cost him money. She was originally from that strip club around the corner but now lives here." he gets close to whisper, "She spent over two-hundred-thousand this year and Littirian doesn't know that she is normally has one of those guards filling her in when he isn't."

"Are you implying something?" Yox asks him interested in where this conversation is going.

"Listen, between me and you. I think that Yolina will soon have an accident if she isn't careful." the volus states showing him in a criminal light.

Yox understands the small alien and smiles at his shrewdness, "How much are you willing to pay to see her gone?"

"Well I know your employer must be a very powerful person, we can open a more effective business relationship."

"Let me speak to my employer. You'll have an answer in a few days." Yox says not abandoning the offer but knowing not to do addition work behind Krinal's back.

Back in Littirian's bedroom, the turian continues to watch the pair asari locking lips while under the covers with only the top half of them showing. Yolina is the submissive member while Delphine seems to be on top and dominant. While the continue the turian gets up and pours himself a drink and takes a sip while Delphine slips a hand under the sheets in inside of Yolina causing her eyes to widen at first but then gets used to the motion the other asari begins.

Littirian picks up an earpiece and puts it on and presses to open a channel, "Hey, Sedath. have you talked your employer yet?"

"Hasty aren't we Mister Littirian, but I have. Any casualties that are caused during the apprehension of the targets will be compensated." the salarian says. "I hope that my employees are enjoying themselves."

He turns to see Delphine turning Yolina on her front and continues doing what she likes to so, "Believe me, they're more than satisfied."

"Yes, Delphine has acquired taste doesn't she. Goodbye." Sedath finishes much to Littirian's confusion looking around to see if he is being watched.

On the other end Sadath sits at his desk within one of the skyscrapers of the city. His office is big as his official name is Sedath Coralaus and is an attorney for the company who occupies this building, though his status is only temporally as the office is bare and has no personal items whatsoever. His console is open and next to that is a small pad to conjurer an image. He presses a code on the consoles and the pad creates a live link to Krinal itself, who is from its position sitting on its chair within its lair on Korlus. It doesn't look any different from when the Acolytes last saw the Emissary as the five foot synthetic sits with talon-like hands and feet showing and three-eyed face with a lower jaw below, breathing steam from the gaps of the teeth.

"Sedath. What can I do for my favoured Acolyte?"

"Emissary, I'm concerned with our plan. It's been a year since we last saw the pair and their drone and they most likely have adapted to avoid us."

"You fear they may know our involvement?" the machine asks before thinking to itself, "We have worked hard to locate them here without aide and evasion is possible? We have even secured Nassana Dantius to act on our behalf as an alternative buyer."

"Wait, you've been acting through some else all this time?"

"I need that alien Sedath! I set up a dummy corporation and hired the diplomat through them. Whichever buyer they go to, we'll be ready." the machine types in some information, "I have three other Acolyte's acting as Dantius' personal guard, and their profiles are yours to view."

"Thank you, Emissary." Sedath says with a smile knowing that the machine is more cunning than he thought and he brings up the profiles of these new agents of the Scythe.

Across the street from Brek, Krieg hasn't left the club he initially went for a drink and is still at the bar with the amount of glasses around him indicates that he has had a lot of ale. He had a depressive face upon him and seemed to have turned to alcohol as a vice to keep him on the straight and narrow, though drink has an opposite effect.

The batarian bartender just watches as he looks at the dancer who tried to seduce him who in turn shakes her head while standing in the doorway to the private cubicles. Krieg finishes the glass and puts it on the counter though his tolerance for the drug is high he is a little bit tipsy as he knocks one of the glasses of bar and it smashes, gaining the attention of the krogan bouncer who stands ready to throw him out. The bartender shakes his head as he leans forward.

"Listen, I think you better get going. You've had enough to drink."

"I fine." he turns to see Lasia looking at him now a little more with pity, "What do want? Really?"

Lasia approaches him and whisper, "He's right you should leave." she then is pulled close to him by his arm, "Get off me."

"You wanted me an hour ago, what's changed?" he says making a fool of himself.

"Let her go, Krieg!" Rhea says as Krieg turns around to see himself in compromising position, "What are you doing?"

Krieg widens his eyes and let's go of Lasia as she stands beside him, "I thought I said get some sleep?"

"Well you were gone longer than I expected so I had INC locate you." she looks at the amount he has had to drink, "What the fuck, Krieg? I thought you said you'd quit?"

"Yeah well, I like drinking. It makes me forget." he says before hailing another drink.

Rhea looks at the bartender, "He doesn't want another, one thanks."

"Get your hand of me." he says shrugging her off, "We have new problems."

Rhea turns to Lasia who has shielded away from the pair, "Can I talk to my friend in private?"

She nods, "Sure. Just head in a booth and shut the door."

She smiles and waves her Omni-tool, "For your troubles." and grabs Krieg by the arm and leads him towards the booth and places him on the couch while she shuts the door so the two of them can be in private for the upcoming conversation, "Look at you. Is this what you do with you spare time? Drink ale and try it on with those whores outside."

Krieg looks down ashamed, "The drinking, yes. the sex I turned down."

Rhea crosses her arms unimpressed, "What's this problem you said of out there?"

Krieg leans back and get comfortable, "The Scythe are here. I saw Delphine and Yox enter Littirian's with a salarian."

"I see, so you agree that we should do the deal with Nassana Dantius now?" she asks him not knowing the impending trap.

He nods as he looks back up to her, "A hundred percent. Do I get my lap dance now?"

Rhea raises an eyebrow, "Fuck you, Krieg. you get nothing."

"Come on." he says as he grabs her ass as she turns around. Rhea, offended turns and slaps him with her palm followed by grabbing a glass of unfinished beverage and throwing it in his face, "Fuck!" he shouts in surprise as the liquids wakes him up.

"Get a grip, Krieg!" she looks at the grey alien and how he has changed since his transformation, "You not the same as you once were, you're turning into a first-class asshole. Come on!" she says as she is the first to walk out of the booth while Krieg rubs the right side of his cheek where he was slapped by her. She nods to Lasia and the bartender before they leave showing that she was the more civil of the two.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea gives a look of distain as Joker sees that she doesn't like describing how Krieg changed in that period while acting as criminals. His struggle with drink parallels many aliens and their obsession with drugs for a way to get away from their hardships. She takes the last smoke out of her cigarette and puts it out in the ashtray before speaking, "Krieg changed a lot since Intai'sei. I knew he liked his booze and smoking but he'd since been doing it more and more as the months went by."

"Couldn't you do something about? I mean you were his friend?" Joker says and the truth it was.

"But it's still hard to get even the closest of friends to stop doing what they love. There were times when he drank less and there were times he drank more. But that day when he started acting like a fucking 'man' would, he really pissed me off."

"Why? Because he grabbed your ass? Most men do that, even now."

"Yeah, I know. I guess I didn't have Krieg down for doing that sort of thing, to me of all people. Maybe it was the change that caused it?"

"Yeah, you said that his face had grown some weird scale formation around it? Why?"

"If I knew that I would be questioning him right now. INC said that it was natural but his attitude wasn't. Krieg treated me the same but his once-cautious approach had now changed to a more active one."…

**21/08/2159- Invictus, Caestrus, Minos Wasteland**

The fully armoured and helmeted Krieg and Rhea are both within their air-car once again as they were driving on the freeway towards their now desired client, Nassana Dantius who is waiting for them in the section of the city they agreed to meet at. The business district was near where Sedath's office among the skyscrapers of the city. Krieg is in the driver's seat and is focusing on the road while his partner in crime sits on the passenger's seat fixing her assault rifle while the weapons that Krieg normally carries are on the back seat next to INC who was on standby. Krieg makes a turn off the freeway and flies down towards the stories of parking lots and stops at the third floor from the bottom and parallel parks between two vans.

Krieg switches off the ignition and grabs equipment from the back starting with attaching the shotgun on the back of his belt before putting the pistols in their holsters, "Right, you know what to do?"

She nods, "Yeah, I'll go and make the deal with Nassana. You and INC take spots and watch my back." and gets out of the car and INC follows and both getting to their appropriate points. She puts on her helmet on and while Krieg pulls out of the space and begins heading to his vantage point while INC camouflages itself when escorting the asari. Nassana herself was standing at the floor below and she holds a briefcase with what is the money for the amps. Her expression is not one of satisfaction as the company she keeps isn't her usual kind, being Scythe Acolytes who 'work' for this dummy corporation. A few minutes and Rhea has reached the floor below and has her in her sights. Holding the briefcase in her left hand she walks down the ramp to make her presence known to the asari diplomat, "Nassana Dantius?"

She looks up and walks forward, "Hey, shut up. Don't say my name out loud. You're the courier right?"

"Sure am, have the amps right here." she says while walking down and opens the briefcase to show her the set of amps that she stole, state of the art for the 2150's. "Got the credits?"

Nassana opens her briefcase and smiles as inside are twenty credits chits, a hundred-thousand credits on each one nicely packed in the case, "Come on, let's get this done with. I need to get back to the Citadel." she looks around quite frantically.

Krieg remains at a distance from the meet and his car is in the air. He once again is using INC eye's as his eyes, watching Rhea and Nassana make the deal happen. His face is of patience as he picks up from the back seat a sniper rifle as he activates it and opens the left side door to get a clear shot of what's in front of him and that is exchange with Nassana's back facing him as he intends to take both the money and chits, thinking like a criminal would and knowing how to make a profit. He zooms and locks onto Dantius and takes the safety off before getting a more clear shot of her and as soon she crouches to slide the briefcase, he is ready to fire. His focus however is diverted when a shot is fired and the bullet hit the door, Krieg flinches and his shot fires past Nassana.

When the bullet hits the floor next to the diplomat she looks Rhea with a frightened look on her face and doesn't bother receiving her part of the bargain. Instead she turns around and sprints away from the beginning of a gunfight as two figures reveal themselves, both male turians with one who wear medium colossus armour with a blue tint and other one wears lighter armour. The pair both carry Breaker rifles while having Razor pistols on their hips but are using the former to fire at the asari, who dives between a pair of cars. Covering herself she leaves the gunplay to INC who has revealed its position and begins firing from its turrets, causing them to cover themselves as well.

Krieg sees this and keeps cool as he aims at one of them hoping to pick one of them off before going down for his friend. A few floors above the third floor, the third agent that Krinal sent is resting her hands on the balcony and keeping steady as she holds her sniper rifle. She was a female turian though she wore the same armour as the other two shooting at Rhea below. Her scope has Krieg in sights as she is pointing for none vital areas. She waits until he moves in the position to shoot and pulls the trigger. She catches the grey alien's shoulder and he drops the rifle out of the car.

"FUCK!" he shouts as he shuts the door with his right arm as the turian got him clean on the left, his armour penetrated but is bleeding moderately. He can use both arms to drive however as he turns the car and begins to head to Rhea's location.

Rhea fires her rifle in the direction of the two turians and but isn't successful in catching them and they are the same. INC has also taken cover next to her as she keeps her cool and ducks when the impact of fire hit's the hood of the car. She sees that the two briefcases are right next to each other and also sees the that they could have both of them, thinking on the same lines Krieg as she reaches for one of the briefcase but before she can, one of the Acolyte's fires at her and hits her exposed hand. She screams in pain is the shot hit the back of her hand but it only skimmed giving her a little graze though she doesn't attempt the same thing twice. The pair of turians head into the open hoping to get closer to the asari. They both keep their guns pointed towards their targets location though they aren't prepared for the next set of events.

The car that Krieg occupies rides through the opening and towards Rhea's location and the two Acolyte's jump out the way as they hear the sound of acceleration. He does ninety degree turn right and skids so that he can open the door and fire his shotgun as he jumps out, killing one instantly before having the chance to get up. Rhea sees her chance and grabs the two briefcases and sprints to the car and dives in the driver's seat while INC plants itself in its usual place with the cases next to it. She watches as Krieg walks up to the remaining Acolyte and points the gun in his face pulling the trigger before his victim can think, making it two out of three.

Rhea leans over, "Krieg! Get the fuck in the car!" she orders and he walks over to jump in the back seat as she drives away. The remaining member comes running down and shoots the car twice, only catching it once but it's not enough and they get away. The turian takes off her helmet to reveal a feminine face with a light red complexion; her fringe is short and mimics an asari. She has no facial marking accept a single line down her right eye. She runs up to the turian who was shot in the face by Krieg's shotgun and a tear and mournful sigh is heard from her.

A few minutes later and the pair have exited the freeway and landed on the top floor of another parking lot where Rhea parks and immediate gets out the car with and screams in frustration, "You bastard, you were going to kill her?"

Krieg gets himself out of the car and holds his arm, "Yeah, so what? I thought that we could make a few extra credits." he says before she hits him in his bad arm, "Fuck Rhea! What did you do that for?"

"Why do you think? We've been doing this for a year Krieg and every time you get worse. The Krieg I knew wouldn't shoot a person in the face unless he really had to, the Krieg I knew-"

"That Krieg is dead Rhea, take a look at the face!" he turns away from her, "You know who those were back there? Acolytes, Krinal double-played us, so I saved your ass!"

"Oh yeah, thanks!" says shouts before leaning on the car, "Well we got what we wanted! We have both the credits and amps so we can find another buyer." she doesn't look at him as they are both frustrated at what has gone down.

Dogar stands in an elevator within the same building as Sedath's office. Standing in the elevator with him was two of Littirian's thugs, a krogan and a turian who act as his escort and protection for the volus was too small for such acts of combat and protection and with this person's friends he needs this kind of company. A few seconds and the doors open to reveal Sedath's empty office and the night sky behind him, indicating it has been a few hours since the deal between Krieg, Rhea and Nassana.

"Good evening Dogar, I'm afraid you called me o-"

The volus point at Sedath, "Skip with the pleasantries. They didn't arrive at the meet. And I got tip that a manufacturer had a better offer, a manufacturer with protection from you. Care to explain?"

Sedath switch off his console, "Bold move, Dogar. I must admit those who are small can hide their greatest assets. Don't worry, you'll be compensated greatly for this misunderstanding, I have assurance from my employer."

"Well your employer can kiss my patched-up ass!" Dogar says before two shots are fired from the dark and his two guards drop behind him, "What the fuck? I see, your moving in on our turf?"

Sedath laughs, "No, I have no interest in Invictus whatsoever but my employer has interest in you. I received word today from Yox about your little offer. And we are more than happy to obliged, for a price."

Dogar relaxes and approaches the window as well, "I'm all suit salarian. Speak."

"This asari you want disposed of; my krogan friend is taking care of that for you right now. However we are beginning an operation which many of your types can benefit from." he gets a questionable body movement for the volus, "Businessmen with company they like to keep discreet. Littirian however isn't discreet, his status in society is very well known and the turians are contempt as long as he does his job. However we would prefer if someone more 'steady' was at the helm of this operation. We know you're the man for the job."

"So, I would be in charge? No one telling me what to do?" Dogar ask with an ambitious tone.

He smiles, "Well, you'll be in charge of our operations here on Invictus. We have allies forming and pledging allegiance in various worlds within the terminus. We have a few krogan clans, some batarian gangsters; all know an opportunity when they see it. My employer wants order brought to the Terminus Systems and its people like us that will make it happen." the volus gives a silent nod as he shakes Sedath's hand.

Sedath's orders were about to go through as Yolina is in her apartment and is alone sleeping in her bed between the times that Littirian wants his way but her next visit wouldn't be so pleasant. The sound of her door bell goes to her surprise as she sits up and wipes her eyes before getting up and reveals her naked body. Walking through the other room before heading to the front door, the entrance slides open and she is met with a fist to her face. She falls to the ground and holds it in response.

Yox is the culprit and complied with the contract of Dogar's as he picks her up and tosses her across the floor causing damage to various household products. She begins to frantically crawl away and the krogan treads on her ankle and presses down, breaking it and she screams in pain. Yox lets her crawl for a few seconds before he heads into her bedroom and opens the window of her apartment, big enough for him to walk through. He turns to her and shows no real remorse for his actions as he pick the helpless asari up and carries her to the window. Not bothered whatsoever he throws her out and she begins a long fall down through the air to the bottom and with it being dark only her scream can be heard before passing the balcony outside Littirian's club.

Littirian himself was across the street in the bar that Krieg was in the day before and is currently occupied within the booth with Lasia. Unlike Krieg the turian has taken up her offer as he is sitting on the couch with his flies undone and covering his privates is Lasia herself, straddling him with no clothes on. The sex is rough and the noise blocks the sound of the doors opening and holding a pistol is Delphine fully armoured as she smiles for a few seconds and long enough for the turian to make eye contact. She pulls the trigger and the shots go through Lasia and into Littirian, counting to about seven by the time she is finished. She puts her pistol back in his holster and walks through the bar and nods to the bartender, who obviously cleared the place before letting her kill him.

It's at the same time that Krieg, Rhea and INC were heading onto a civilian shuttle heading for their next location as the huge ship is ready for boarding with dozens of other refugees. They head towards one of the small cubicles that have a view of the outside as Rhea plants herself on one side and puts her briefcase on the table and so does Krieg though he sits opposite her with INC at his side. The two are pissed off with each other and aren't talking as Krieg takes the complementary beverage from the middle of the table and opens it while Rhea sits and watches him guzzle it down. The dynamic of this group has changed as both want to lead but both are becoming distant.


	24. Out of Breath

**Chapter XXIV: Out of Breath**

**01/09/2159- Korlus, Imir System, Eagle Nebula**

This area of the planet was once occupied by the Krogan Bloodpack has since been transformed by Krinal, who sent Yox and Delphine to seize the property eighteen months prior. The fortress that once stood now has Krinal's taste applied to it as the walls are made from the finest metal and the main building where the krogan would conjugate is now much sturdier with a central spire overlooking the whole fortress and a bridge connecting towards two neighbouring watchtowers. Krinal had begun creeping up on up from under the surface, taking Korlus piece by piece and recovering objects of value which were few in the Starship Cemetery. The courtyard is now covered by the main building with turret defences and landing pads.

A ship was entering the system and it was one that resembled a Bloodpack shuttle that was kept after they raided it as a few more were stationed here as the Scythe were using them as transports that wouldn't cause too much suspicion. The ship lands at the closest pad to the building and the ramp opens from the back to reveal the passengers. Stepping out were Sedath and the female turian who survived her encounter with Krieg though also lost two of her comrades. Following them were Delphine and Yox who were in their common silver armour but no weapons.

The female turian looks at Sedath and his emotionless face, "What are you going to tell it?"

"Exactly what happened, Filestra." he replies as a drone gives him clearance to enter the elevator.

"This place has changed since last year." Yox mentions remembering when he attacked the place.

Sedath nods, "This is Krinal's new watch post. He wanted it away from the main base."

"What's it doing this time?" Delphine says leaning on the wall.

The salarian sighs, "I don't know, I just work for him." He says before they walk out to the top floor of the main spire which is and exact duplicate of Krinal's dome within his lair but the walls are now made of the thickest glass. Due to the glasses nature the place was naturally more like a greenhouse as a machine doesn't feel such things but Delphine, Sedath and Vilestra do while Yox shakes it off easily. Krinal sits on a chair exactly the same as it always does and has numerous screens open while standing at its side is Sintarrio, the silver turian who acts as a personal commander.

Krinal turns around to face them all and switches its consoles off, "Sedath, it is good to see you once again."

"Thank you, Emissary. Invictus was a success and now Rhea T'Anya is in possession of the chits." He says revealing the intentions to give her and Krieg the 'bait'.

"Excellent. When she uses those chits we will know her location, leading Krieg to us. We must be patience and not repeat the same mistakes." The machine says before standing its small height and turns to face the wastelands of the planet, "Endless deserts of junk, never thought it would be possible."

"With all due respect, sir. Why have you requested us back from Invictus so soon?" he asks confused.

Krinal turns, "Do not worry about Dogar, there are many new crime lords in the Terminus in the same situation and I have sent drones to monitor their activities. That's why you are here. Sedath, out of all the possible candidates I would like to make you Chief of the Terminus Network, here in this facility." It offers the salarian the chair and the alien takes it without hesitation.

"It's an honour my Emissary, what will be my task?" he says getting comfortable.

Krinal brings up various screens of drone visuals, "I have drones monitoring all of my new allies. Unallied krogan clans, batarian gangsters, you name it, they are on the network. Your job is to keep them in line while at the same time they will be donating credits to me which will go in two directions. The first will be for my research and the second will be for you, to balance power between groups."

"I see, so my job is to keep these guys cool, until what?"

"Until I am ready to complete my plans. Times are changing Sedath, the Duchy is ending." Krinal states while referring to the main branch of the Scythe which is the asari-supremacist faction. It turns towards Filestra, "I see you survived your encounter with Krieg?"

"Not without putting a hole through his arm." She answers back not trying to give in to the intimidation.

The machine nods, "Well it's a shame that you brothers couldn't share that consolation prize with you." He looks at all three of his Acolytes, "You three are to return to the base with me and Sintarrio. There you will all rest and prepare to work together for your next mission."

"A new unit, I don't work with aliens." Filestra states much to Delphine's offense.

Krinal sighs before letting one of its tentacles shoot out of his cloak and strangles her and bringing her close, "You will work with whom I tell you to." and drops her on the ground with Delphine enjoying the turian being put in her place, "Filestra, please mind your manners."

"Hey. What about Krieg and T'Anya? They got away again." Yox wonders while taking a look at Sedath's new toy.

Krinal heads towards the elevator, "They'll make their presence known eventually. For now return with me to the base. I have some new toys for you to play with." The machine leads them out the room and leaves the salarian to obey and do his duties. As a salarian he only needs an hour's sleep before working again so Sedath is perfect for the job allocated to him.

Within a small booth in the vast expanse of space Rhea sits at the table with a glass of brandy and finished plate. She has the majority of her equipment off as her helmet and torso armour were laid out neatly beside her and underneath was her briefcase supporting the credit chits they acquired on Invcitus.

Opposite her was Krieg and INC, the latter on standby and remaining frozen while the former was continuing his meal which compared to Rhea's was significantly more as she watches him eat a variety of cuisines from different cultures. He shows no manners and eats with his hands and burps after taking a drink of his beverage, which was a strong spirit. He only has his gloves off and some of the sauce from one of his varren legs has dribbled down his mouth and onto his chest plate though he is stuffing his mouth too much to notice.

"You know you can slow down and chew your food, Krieg?" she says disgusted with him.

Krieg stops eating and looks at her, "So after ten days you're talking to me?"

Rhea realizes that she had be ignoring Krieg longer than she thought as they once again weren't on great terms, "Yeah…well…you were eating like…shut up." She crosses her arms and looks out the window. She moves her eyes to see Krieg is still looking at her and she closes them, "I'm going to sleep."

"Are you sure you want to do that, it gets cold out here. Maybe we should cuddle and save body heat?" he says smiles while continuing with his varren leg eating it like a chicken wing.

Rhea opens her eyes and looks at him for the comment he just made was too much, "What is up with you? When I'm not mad with you, you're worried about me, when I mad at you you're flirting with me?"

"I'm…not …flirting with you." He says between chews, "I just know that it cheers you up."

"Do you see me laughing?" Rhea says looking away and remaining silent for a few seconds once again trying to avoid Krieg's gaze only this time she smirks a little and turns, "Okay, I admit that when you make those…puns or whatever it does make me smile a little. You've changed."

Krieg puts the bone down on his plate, "You've said that a thousand times ever since this." He says point to his scale patterns, "I don't look too different."

"But you act different; you're more open than you used to be. Remember last year when you wouldn't let me go into that facility on Trebin, you thought it would be dangerous. Now we shoot, rob and scam people for a living and its high risk."

"I know, our occupation has changed over the past four years. You were a 'merc', a medic on smuggling ship, a civilian, and now you're a fugitive. You have a glittering résumé thanks to me." He smiles taking a sip of his drink.

She leans on the table, "I also have a degree and I'm a full-trained physician."

"That's more than I have. I was property when you found me, then I was nothing, then I was an escaped subject for some wacko with satellite dishes on his head." Krieg states as Rhea laughs at his misfortunes, "I'm glad you see the funny side, because I've done nothing but run for two years."

Rhea stops and sees Krieg is a bit upset, "I'm sorry. I…just…you're a bit more confident I guess. You let me fire a gun for starters."

"Yeah well, you're good in a fight most of the time." he says before having another sip of his drink.

"I'll say one thing. Those scales on your face make you look a bit more masculine than you did." She says getting a reaction.

"Masculine? Get out of here?" he says and looks to her and sees a warmly smile from her. Krieg thinks to himself and pulls a face of trouble and Rhea notices, "Rhea, can be honest with you seriously for a second?"

Rhea looks at him, "Okay, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Krieg rubs the back of his neck before leaning forward, "Well it's about…sex."

She remains silent and grabs her drink before, "Sure, Krieg. What do you want to know?"

"Well, it's more of confession than anything. It's about what happened on the Citadel, K-Thousand." he says taking another gulp, "Remember when you came to visit me and you had that brief talk. Well, I think it may have been a part of an experiment."

Rhea leans forward, "Experiment? My mother helped me get clearance through one of her friends."

"Sure. But when Doctor Thenas used to talk to me she would ask me questions about trivial things like my belt and the equipment I carried. She never got anywhere but saw that when you talked to me that there was something, a friendship to be exploited. This led to a private experiment, strictly low-key and only between her… and her assistant at the time, Delphine."

Rhea doesn't like the sound of where this is going as her night with Delphine was uneventful and creepy, "Go on."

Krieg doesn't look at her in the eye, "The test was to see how I would react to, sexual activities…and Delphine was the 'volunteer'. I was uncomfortable with it and so was she."

"What did you do Krieg?" Rhea says in a very harsh tone.

"Nothing too explicit. She was instructed to give me a hand." He sees an unimpressed look on Rhea's face, "She would give them and then take sample and I don't what else to say."

"Krieg, you're saying that Delphine, now our enemy gave you multiple handjobs for scientific purposes?" Krieg just nods in response very embarrassed, "Fine, I'm not mad but it would have been nice to have known that sooner."

Krieg leans forward more, "Well that's the thing, I'm curious now about it. On Intai'sei Delphine accused me of something, I don't know what but she was pissed off with me. Are you mad? Because I haven't done anything like that since, you know?" he states saying that he hasn't had another sexual encounter since then.

"I think weshould abandon this for now." She says taking the final sip of her drink and looks out of the window while Krieg regrets creating an awkward atmosphere especially around someone he cares for.

Yox is within his own quarters and is lying on his bed. His room that Krinal had given him a year ago was untidy and had since been cluttered with various clothes or guns that krogan had collected. He himself in lying in his bed naked though his lower half is covered by the sheet as he sits there and watches the screen in front of him trying the grasp the concept of human sports but pays little interest though he does seem to have taken a liking to whiskey. He drinks the bottle the way human would a beer though to Yox it was more like soda. Next to him were two asari matrons spooning each other though krogan shows little interest towards them either as Delphine walks in and up the steps towards the sleeping area to sees the quiet threesome.

She looks at them with confusion, "Who are these two?"

"I found them here when I got back, apparently I was chosen for a reproduction contract by the Duchy. These two want children and I am happy to provide." He says though he shows more content than pleasure.

"You don't care that their pregnant with your children?" Delphine says sitting next to him on the bed.

Yox remains fixed on the screen, "I have an asari daughter already, doesn't make much difference to me. I might have been a bit rough though."

Delphine smiles as she takes his whiskey from him and takes a sip, "What do you think about the girl, Filestra?"

"The turian? Feisty. Has a mouth on her." He admits knowing his place, "I wouldn't backtalk Krinal like that."

Delphine sneers, "Yeah, she thinks she better than us." Delphine looks down and at her own legs while remaining silent.

"Something on your mind?" Yox asks.

Delphine rubs the back of her neck and scratches it a little, "Not really, just haven't seen this place in a while that's all." She gets up and heads down the steps towards the door and into the dark hallway where she is about to head into the dorm. She opens and walks inside to reveal a much cleaner version of Yox with everything reversed being the opposite side. She sits down in the couch area where and lies on the couch and gets comfortable while the sound of the door slides open and footsteps follow.

"Excuse me?"

Delphine has her eyes closed, "What is it?"

"Sorry, but can I get some brandy, my husband requested some and I can't find any?"

"Check the cabinet."

"Oh, thank you." the soft spoken voice replies as the footsteps walk past her causing Delphine to open her eyes and sees something that she has never seen before. The figure was female and wearing an outfit that is normally worn by colonist, more specifically human colonists. She sits up to get a better look at her face and see that she has red hair and slightly pale skin. By her face she was in her early twenties as she turns around to see the asari standing in front of her, "Oh, you scared me a little. I'm Liz Riley."

"Delphine, you a member of our team?" she asks her.

"Err…no, but my husband is. I'm just keeping him company until that Krinal can set me up." She says shyly noticing the asari taking an interest in her, "I'm human if that's what you wandering?"

"Oh, that's it. I haven't seen a human female before. See ya later." She says as she watches the human walk out surprised at the likeness between the two species. She sits back on her couch and thinks to herself and smiles showing the beginnings of a crush rather than just lust.

Rhea on the other hand sees the opposite after her brief conversation with Krieg as his confession hasn't gone down very well with her. The two of them are reaching their destination and have since picked another location within the Terminus to hide out on only this one is not influenced by a Council race. The place they have arrived at is in fact one of the few stations that orbits the world of Zada Ben, which was a volus colony and made sense for a turian transport to head to their client race's colony.

Followed by INC the two of them walk into the port and notice that the volus are still wearing their suits and that was because the security around this station was turian who themselves wore gas-masks as the station didn't provide extensive oxygen as the volus found the gas poisonous. Krieg and Rhea would have to suffice with wearing their helmets as well which suited Krieg as it covered his face from the aliens around him. The station itself was coloured the same way as most volus suits; brown and white while had a homely feel to it as many were acting the same way as they would on their homeworld.

Krieg carries the briefcase full of amps as he looks at Rhea, "Are you okay?"

Rhea doesn't bother moving, "Yeah, I'm fine." She says but from her tone of voice he could tell she was lying.

He uses his arm to stop her and she grabs his wrist, "You know that was hard for me to say, I wish now I hadn't." He sighs, "Rhea, your friendship is all I have, please."

Rhea looks at him through her visor, "I know what happened wasn't up to you but you've got understand that sometimes the truth hurts."

"I know it does. And I know I've changed a bit. I drink more than I used to, my behaviour is inappropriate sometimes but that doesn't mean that I still don't care for…for you." He says sitting down on a nearby chair, "I don't know what else to do?"

Rhea looks at a helpless friend and begins to feel a sense of guilt before she sits beside him, "Well…you could start by stop acting like a jackass when your drunk. When I saw you with that hooker on Invictus, I knew that it was the drink talking."

Krieg chuckles a little, "You know she did offer me, you know for free? When I was sober I refused."

Rhea takes his hand squeezes it, "Because you better than you think. We all have our bad times but my mother used to say 'picking ourselves up was always the real struggle'. And the funny thing is that what you said, about my friendship having all you have, the feelings mutual."

"But you have a life to go back to; you have a mother, a father-figure, a family."

"You're my family to, and so is the tin-can here." She says referring to INC hovering in front of them, "You know two years ago I could have just refused to come with you, take my chances on the Citadel but no, I chose you instead." She looks at the free reception desk where the volus is ready for the next customer, "Come on, and get one of those chits ready for use." She says leading him to the counter.

While the group makes arrangements on the orbiting station Sedath is working the Terminus Systems from his command centre able to keep the lawless regions local thugs in his control while on one screen a light begins flashing and a sound to match as he look at the area of the galaxy known as the Shrike Abyssal where the Krieg and Rhea were located and notices that the chits are working.

A list of expenses comes up and the location that they are staying at. The salarian smiles as he relays the information to Krinal while also locating the nearest Acolytes within the area to reach the pair as he types in orders to follow. One is located on the neighbouring planet which was the major colony of the volus, known as Talis Fis.

Sedath gets an incoming call, "Krinal, I found them and I can send Bylok immediatly."

"Not yet, tell him to keep surveillance only and don't make direct contact." Krinal says on the other end before turning to Sintarrio, "Go to Zada Ban, draw the security off the station so Bylok has a better chance of capture." And Sintarrio nods heading towards the elevator within Krinal's command centre and entering.

A few seconds later and he is at the hidden entrance in the valley disguising the lair before taking a run and changing into his air-spike form, heading out the atmosphere within seconds ready to intercept Krieg once again.

It isn't oblivious that the chit has actually put the pair in danger; Krieg is sitting on a bed within the double suit that the chit bought them. The room was ugly to say the least but met volus standards and it was enough that oxygen was an option to have in the room, provided by the volus for their guests and the local turian security off-hours.

He isn't just sitting however as he is currently looking at a brochure for a small world across the galaxy. The advertisement converts in a few languages before coming with the name 'Eden Prime' in plain English. INC was laid on a nearby chair and was keeping itself to itself as the last few days of arguing between Rhea and Krieg have been to the machine's distaste, being self-aware but doesn't do anything about it as they seem to have made up on their own.

"Hey, INC. What do you know about Eden Prime?" he asks.

"Searching: Eden Prime is a human settlement within the Exodus Cluster. The colony is small at this time but successful as immigration is high for this world. Visuals projecting." INC flashes screenshot of from one of his eyes to see the planet and pictures of the surface.

Rhea who wasn't privy to the question walks out of the bathroom wearing a white robe to see pictures of the planet and is curious at why Krieg is looking at it. She sits next to him, "What are you looking at?"

"You know we said we would look for somewhere to get a break, well how about this world? It's a human colony." He says.

Rhea scans the pictures and can't help but feel warmth from the visuals, "It's beautiful. We should get some peace there. What would we do there?"

Krieg leans on his elbows, "Well, we can relax, enjoy ourselves, and try new things. Stuff that tourists do."

She lies next to him, "On the Angel we had nothing but human food."

"Yeah, but it's been over a year and there is probably something we haven't tried." He says before getting up and undoes his belt placing it on the bed next to Rhea.

She looks at his belt and knows that it is his only real possession from when she first found him and it is unknown on how he got it back during K-Thousand but she can't bring herself around to take a look at what is inside. She watches him enter the bath room taking his torso armour off on the way while she decides to put something a bit more comfortable on herself.

Looking in one of the draws next to her bed and reaches for a pair of panties to puts them on underneath her dressing gown. When she is done she sits back on her bed and feels her face, noticing how rough her skin was as of late. In response she gets up and walks towards the bathroom and accidentally catches Krieg naked, undressing himself though she has reacted first, "Oh, sorry Krieg. I thought you were just-"

"It's nothing you haven't seen before, Rhea. Don't worry about." He says turning his front half away from her.

She walks in and opens the cabinet to find something for her face to soften her skin and is successful as she takes a tub of moisturizer and rubs it on her cheeks, "How's you scar these days?"

"I don't feel it anymore to be honest, yours?"

"I feel it from time to time" she says rubbing it into her cheeks then washing herself off with the water, "I still have a little scar from it though."

"Yeah, so do I. Well it's more like a crator." he says laughing and wrapping a towel around his waist turning to face her and shows that the scar he had is nothing more than a burnt patch on his stomach.

Rhea turns to put the moisturizer back in the cabinet and looks at the scar herself. She smiles as she is impressed by her own handwork and feels it with her finger, "That's healed nicely. I couldn't have done a better job."

Krieg stands and lets her fells his stomach enjoying the touch, "Do I get to see yours?"

She stops and looks at him, "I'm already smiling Krieg you don't have to flirt with me." she says about to take her hand away but is caught by Krieg, catching her off guard. She lets him get a little bit closer, "Krieg…"

"What if I'm trying to make you laugh?" he says getting even closer, "What if I was just flirting with you?" he says as he takes her hand and begins kissing her fingers. Rhea is uncomfortable as she still didn't want any kind of sexual relationship with Krieg and looks away before feeling his finger trail across her scar. With that she takes her hand back and slowly tries to push him away, much to his confusion.

"That's enough Krieg, it's been a long journey and-"

"No, no I get it. I've got to take a shower." he says raising his eyebrows and looking away waiting for the asari to leave. He feels a sense of humiliation that he was rejected but understands as well while switching on the shower and steps in while Rhea is outside sitting on her bed with a face of regret for making him stop.

On the other side of the station the local volus make themselves at home and home to them is the business world as most of the colony's space station is in the form of a market. The suited aliens were buying and selling stock of materials that are found within the planet below as this was a mining colony and materials below were worth a lot of credits to interested parties. The local stock brokers represent other alien races as no one was better at finance than the volus and some were even accompanied by members of other those races, mainly the Council races though there were some others among them.

However the presence of one major playa would cause silence among the investors. Among the volus he was feared and by the asari he was a king though his true occupation was unknown to all apart from his employers, who have ordered him here. The turian security move out the way for him as the black suit normal-looking volus appears with a briefcase of his own.

It was Bylok, who had travelled from the neighbouring planet under the orders of Sedath and has to wait for Sintarrio to rendezvous with him. He is ordered to act normal in the meantime and his regular job is in fact dealing in stock, something he is very good at and has reputation for it. The volus walks slowly and remains calm but as he get closer to the spot he would normally occupy an asari matron is setting there with a mask on for breathing.

She instantly recognizes him as he gets closer, "Bylok?…I."

"Out of my seat you stupid bitch, or I'll the oxygen switched off in your mask." he says with a healthy tone pointing to the sign next to her indicating it was his chair. She gets off and a turian guard approaches him, "Officer, what can I do for you?"

Turian looks at the traumatized asari, "You can't talk to clients in that tone!"

"I can do what I want, officer. And if you have a problem it's your problem alone." he says as he climbs up onto his chair, "Buying 50,000." he hears the sound of the turian pointing gun at him, "Please, officer. I'm trying to work."

A random volus approaches the turian, "Listen, you're obviously new here. Don't upset Bylok or he will take it personally." the turian responds by looking around and seeing the volus keeping to themselves and carrying on buying and selling, like this never happened. He puts the gun away as he sees a purple asari walking past wearing a long blue gown and white arms. She has white markings across her face and is wearing a gas-mask and is carrying a purse.

She sits next to Bylok, "I can't believe you've brought me here."

"Orders from the Emissary my dear, they can't be avoided. Don't worry, you're in save hands with me as always."

"The Emissary? I can't believe you work for that prick." she says as she sits down on a chair next to him.

"It was Krinal that introduced us when we came to visit the Duchy." he says showing that he has met the inner working of the Scythe and not just Krinal, "Now you're my wife, Linkia."

She smiles, "Well you do spoil me most of the time. What does Krinal want with you this time?"

"Well it involves K-Thousand." he says with knowledge of what it was but sparks his wife's interest.

"You mean they're here on this station?" she asks with interest. She starts playing with the face part of his suit, "Can you kill them for me?" she asks in puppy-like tone but the question is more psychotic.

"I'm afraid that they want the thing alive. I am currently in wait for an ally but I would make yourself scarce for the rest of the day." Bylok says not paying much attention to her.

"Okay, I'll be in our room if you need anything." she says before kissing the cheek of his suit and heading back out of the terminal market leaving her broker-mercenary husband to do his job.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker laughs at the description that Rhea's has just given about Bylok, who sounded too unbelievable as he was a volus that was an Acolyte and a playa in the stoke market. He continues laughing as Rhea just watches not amused as it was the truth according her but she didn't protest to Joker's laughter as it was the first time he had so in such a fashion.

"It's true." she says and causing him to laugh a bit more.

"Well he sounds like a character and seems to have a happy marriage." Joker remarks and refers to Linkia.

"I don't know much about the dynamic but in Volus space. Asari are tolerated as entertainment but taking one of us as a wife seems strange for the volus. They said that not being able to touch your partner with you own hand made a marriage useless but Bylok didn't care, kind of romantic if you ask me?" she says with a smile.

"And you and Krieg? Was there a romance there?" he asks trying to get an answer of out her.

Rhea takes a smoke of her cigarette and smiles, "Krieg was different by then. The last time he was so forward was when we first meet on Omega but that was before he had his head screwed on properly. This time, this time he meant it."

"How could you tell?"

Rhea sighs, "Well I always had a thing for Krieg at that point but if I acted upon it, then our friendship would be on the line and I couldn't afford that. If we had a relationship then we would have more to lose if one of us got killed. So I rejected him."

"How did he take it, no guy normally takes it well?"

"And they don't like to show it either." Rhea leans back, "I did what was right at the time, and good thing I did otherwise we wouldn't have gotten out so easy."…

**02/09/2159- Zada Ban Orbit, Xe Che System, Shrike Abyssal**

It's been a full day since everyone significant has arrived on the station and Bylok is within his quarters down the hallway from Krieg and Rhea. In order to give the impression that they were a normal couple, both Bylok and Linkia are acting as a businessman and wife on away business and at this very moment the pair was in a position they both prefer.

Linkia was standing in front of the mirror trying new outfits that she bought with money that her husband made during his time at the market the day before. The volus himself was slowly walking out of the bathroom and fixing the arm on his suit, the oxygen refilling the room behind him while he continues walking towards his console and types in a few digits before switching it off.

Bylok looks at his wife wearing a more revealing version of her blue dress with no sleeves and her bellybutton showing, "You look beautiful, my dear."

She turns around and smiles, "Thank you, that suit looks sexy on you." she says as she kneels down and rests her arms on his shoulders, "I wish we could have more moments like this. Thirty years together and my mother thought I couldn't find happiness with a volus, of all people."

He grabs her hands, "I know that our relationship has never been as physical as you may have wanted but you complete me." he says causing her to smiles and blush showing their love was strong.

Someone else's love however was proving more difficult than anything as down the hallway was Krieg in his full armour. The alien had his arms crossed and leaned on the wall in a fashion that he was waiting for the other person inside. It was fortunate for him that his helmet and oxygen mask covered his face as walking out of the room down the hallway are the happy couple who know that he is here but doesn't realize how close they are.

Both Bylok and Linkia walk past him and he remains still keeping himself to himself though his eyes follow the purple asari as their eyes meet. The two enter the elevator and as soon as the door closes Krieg enters the door of his and Rhea's room where she was getting ready going down to the restaurant herself, wearing a red dress and shoulder sleeves showing a bit of cleavage.

She turns to see Krieg take off his helmet and give a serious look, "Listen, Krieg. I think we should just drop what happened." Krieg looks around paranoid catching her attention even more, "What are you doing?"

Krieg turns to face her, "There here, the Scythe. They've tracked us down." he states being ahead of the situation.

Rhea looks at INC who by its movement is just as confused, "How? We've just escaped them?"

"There's a volus here, and asari."

"It's a volus colony-"

"Shut up!" Krieg shouts in an authoritative tone, "The asari, she looks a bit like Doctor Thenas."

Rhea is offended by his attitude, "The women in charge of K-Thousand? It may be a coincidence Krieg, you're paranoid. Besides, Thenas wasn't Scythe from what I remember."

"How do you think the Scythe kept control of the project? Vetos? No, only partially. When the Scythe was transporting me I managed to download a few files before I escaped. I had my suspicions about Thenas but it wasn't until I found them that I realized the depth of Krinal's influence. INC show her." he orders INC to show the profile of Doctor Thenas' fake identification.

Rhea takes a look at the ID and doesn't understand why Krieg never said anything before, "She was, in league with them?"

"She was one of them. I didn't say anything because she was dead by the time I had escaped, killed by my own clone." he states, "Her failure never went down well with Krinal and saw it that she was killed. That asari out there looked like a younger version of her, on her hidden files Krinal stated that she had two sisters, one adolescent and the other is considered dead to them. In Krinal's notes it stated that she married one of his Acolytes."

"What, that's insane." Rhea says sitting, "It might be just a coincidence."

Krieg knees before her, "Rhea, trust me."

Rhea sits and looks away as the last time they were this close the pair of them were more intimate, "If you're right Krieg, that means that we may have an opportunity to get some information. Can you and INC hack into their room?"

"Affirmative: They are most likely espionage agents, acting as a regular couple so no additional security will be put in place." INC concludes.

"Well, I could keep track of them in the floors below dressed like this and you two can search the place, look for anything useful." she puts her gas-mask on. Krieg does the same with his helmet and they head out of the room.

They lock the door behind them as Rhea heads towards where Bylok and Linkia went while Krieg, with the two briefcases they came with and INC travel to the door that he noticed the couple leave from and he assumes this is their room. She watches from the elevator as INC begins using its enterprise to open the door but when elevator doors slide shut they are on their own.

A few floors down and the happy couple themselves were preparing for the dinner that was about to be served though the cuisine was displayed in a very odd fashion for the volus as he couldn't open his suit and eat it himself so has to service an alternative. The food was served in a dome with small gloves on the insider so Bylok could use the culinary to cut his food but at the same time a tube was attached and links the dome to his mouth piece. He cuts a piece of unknown meat and puts it near the tube and it sucks in and goes into the mouth of the volus.

Linkia wasn't the only asari the restaurant and there were turians and salarians were present too so due to them being there the oxygen levels were normal and she didn't wear a mask. This made her more content in eating her food the normal way and the two were sitting on opposite ends of the table.

"How's your meal?" she asks him.

"Its fine, but the food on Talis Fis is more bearable." He states in a critical fashion.

"Well, I like it." she says taking a bite, "When do you start your assignment?"

"When my fellow Acolyte arrives, apparently he'll be here soon. We agreed to meet at the site where I have bought shares in on the surface, so I will return after I fish this meal to prepare." He says as he sucks in another piece of food.

"You're such a workaholic?"

"Me being a workaholic indecently makes you such a shopaholic." He wittingly replies.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way?" she says leaning forwards and smiling.

There was a an aura around the couple and despite the years together it felt more like they were newlyweds but for the asari thirty years wasn't much but for the volus it was slightly different. They looked like an odd couple but their love was genuine and pure compared to most which is more based on physical encounters while the volus would have to be happy that his wife could never touch him. Linkia seemed happy with this as asari didn't need touch to meld, just the person themselves so she felt that their sex-life was better than normal.

Rhea enters the restaurant and sees that on her right there was bar. In order not to look suspicious she walks up and points to the brandy and the volus bar tender pours her a drink. Leaning on counter she peaks at the couple and sees how content they were and content with each other's company. The asari smiles at the sight though she is amazed at how similar the purple asari looked when compared to Doctor Thenas. She remains drinking while her earpiece goes into static.

"Rhea?...Rhea, we're in the place, that women has a lot of clothes. INC is just hacking into the volus' database…Whoa, this guy's a player in the stoke market, has millions of credits under his belt. His name is Bylok Gur, according to what INC found he's a mercenary."

She turns to look at the volus eating, "A volus?"

"I'm not kidding, but he carries multiple titles. His client list for broking is unbelievable. This guy must work for the Scythe, he has the volus ambassador's accounts stashed on his console….wait…oh shit…Rhea, I know why he's here?"

"What do you know? What does he have?"

"It's not what he has; it's who he works for. Nassana Dantius was representing a manufacturer on Invictus when we made the deal. That company was a dummy like the other ones on this list, their Scythe fronts, more specifically Krinal's. Not only that but there is an extensive client list, criminals they've made deals with over the past year…they've killed that Brek Littirian and replaced him with Dogar his right-hand."

"Why would they do that?"

"Krinal must be planning more than just trying to get me, this looks like a big operation."

Rhea looks at the couple once again, "Do you think they know we're here? They're right behind me?"

"They're what? Maybe they don't recognize you, just stay calm."

"I am calm, Krieg. You're the one who sounds like a person panicking." She says taking another sip of her brandy.

"Listen, Rhea. Go to the space port and book two tickets to Eden Prime, use credits and don't use that chit, I think they may have used it to track us here. I'll pack some of your stuff don't worry, I'll meet you there in half an hour." She pulls a face of annoyance and disbelief as she gulps down the rest of her brandy and frantically walks out of the restaurant, to frantically to notice that Bylok is alone at his table and is still continuing his meal will his wife is nowhere to be found.

In the couple's room INC is by the console and downloading all information of the Scythe that was on their which wasn't much but enough to give them a head start as they leave. Krieg is standing with his helmet off but was waiting for the transaction to be complete as he looks out of the window and watches the stars go by. A few minutes have passed and the grey alien sees that on the bed is a medium sized suitcase that was brought up to the pair when they arrived and still had most of Linkia's clothes inside. Walking up to the suitcase he looks at one piece of clothing with particular interest as he sees a purple gown that wasn't of regular design. As he picks it up and feeling the softness he admires the handmaid quality of it and smiles, thinking of a certain person who could make use of such an item.

His admiration for the craftsmanship seems to catch him off guard as the doors open behind him and entering the room happens to be the owner of the gown as she had the a similar skin tone and her face was that of shock as she instantly recognizes who is in front of her. She sees his grey face and knows that this may be the end for her but her body has frozen as the fate of her sister despite being a clone knew that this exact alien was responsible, or indirectly responsible.

Krieg's frozen position is soon transacted into a quick set of actions that would define a contradiction in his traditional self as the alien grabs the wrist of the purple asari before she can turn towards the door. He turns her to face him before he uses a biotic push to push her into the bathroom and hitting her back on the wall inside. Linkia looks up and immediately begins to crawl across floor towards the door but is too late. The door has shut and the icon on the controls next to the door has jammed on the order to 'remove the oxygen'.

The other side and Krieg holds his pistol which has just fired upon the corresponding control, the cause of its jamming. "Fuck? What have I done?" he says with instant regret as he looks at INC.

"Agreement: Killing her was the logical choice, from facial expressions she recognized you." It states taking an allied view on his action.

Krieg listens to the banging from the other side and shuts his eyes with regret. He still holds the gown in his hand and realizes that he has just widowed a man not like he hasn't done it before but this time he feels for what Bylok is about to endure. He puts his helmet on and looks at the briefcase he brought into the room, which had the rest of the chits in. He directs his gun and pulls the trigger to destroy the case but doesn't stop as he takes his anger out on the object. When he does stop he sighs and signals INC to follow while he does takes the gown and Bylok's portable console with him.

Rhea waits among those who are ready to leave the station as she sees very few people actually heading into Alliance Space as not many aliens were as yet interested in humans and the asari was the same but knew that this was the best idea. She has been waiting for twenty minutes and the shuttle leaves in ten but it is at this point when both INC and Krieg appear themselves and he hands the case full of amps, the remaining of the two.

She smiles and gives him a familiar nod as she holds his hand and leads them to their shuttle. The narrow hallway leading to the links was parallel to the volus being a small species and they pass three doorways before heading down towards a small volus cruiser that was built for taller people in mind though they continue inside and walk once again into a small cubicle and sit down. The cubical had room for four, two one side and two the other as they both sit opposite ends and INC rest next to Rhea.

Krieg looks outside the small window, "Sorry we have to do this but-"

"It's okay Krieg, believe me." She reassures him.

Krige nods as he looks down, "I've stole his laptop, it seems that the thing is a standard issue and INC assured me there was no bugs planted so it's safe to keep."

"Good, then we should have something nail these bastards. We're going to have to keep two-steps ahead always." She says as she watches him open the case and gives her the pistol the Rhodius gave her. She smiles as she holds it, "You saved it for me?"

"I know how much it means to you." He says as his belt was his only real possession. He takes the laptop out places it on his lap while putting the open case on the chair next to him.

Rhea eye catches the purple gown he took from Linkia and raises an eyebrow, "What's that?"

Krieg lifts his head and follows her eyes to the gown he just stole from the women he killed. Looking at INC first though the drone was useless for advice as he swallows himself and faces her, "I…I…bought it on the station…for you. This is an apology and for not being able to get you a present for your last birthday." He says hoping that she would buy it.

She picks up the dress and feels it and recognizes the brad, "This is expensive Krieg, this wasn't necessary."

"Can't I spoil at least once?" he asks as he looks at the console in front of him. He isn't prepared for the incoming peak on the cheek planted on him as Rhea has leaned over.

She does sit back and smiles, "Apology excepted. Thank you." and watches him keep focus and shying away from the real truth.

On Korlus of all places the death of Linkia has already reached Sedath at his post as he was currently dealing with the security of all Krinal's new allies but the death takes precedence over that as he brings up and an additional screen to find out the details. The night sky only makes the image brighter as the salarian reads the information and his expression turns to worry as he types in the code to relay the information straight to Krinal as this was an emergency. He shuts off all consoles as the he prepares and anticipates a call from the Emissary itself. Keeping the profile of one 'Linkia M'Tauro' open, Sedath remains content with looking at the deceased sign in front of it before a noise can be heard.

"Sedath? Order Acolyte Sintarrio to abort mission immediately! And inform Acolyte Bylok to return to my domain."

"Very good Emissary." is all that is said as the salarian frantically types the orders within the database with heavy breathing.

The instant change in mission catches Bylok as he stops eating for a second to hear the message in his suit. With that he abandons his meal and prepares for the sight ahead of him, unaware that his target got to his wife before he could get to him. A few light-years away and Sintarrio is still in his spike-form receiving the message though only can respond by turning around and heading back towards the relay he came from.


	25. A Wolf in the Garden

**Chapter XXV: A Wolf in the Garden**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea thinks back to when Krieg lied to her about murdering Bylok's wife though how she found out is currently unknown to Joker. The human is currently putting his wine glass in the sink along with the meal the pair ate earlier which the human enjoyed as he burps before sitting back down to see Rhea's expression of disappointment with herself more than anything as the Krieg she knew back then was fading and becoming something strange. Joker leans towards her eye-line hoping to catch her attention as she smiles and snaps out of her daze.

"Oh, sorry Joker. I was just thinking about old times."

The human nods as he likes to think back about his own adventures, "I know. I would be as well. Did Krieg really kill her?"

"Yeah. I didn't know at the time and Krieg managed to keep my mind off it with that dress he stole. I still have it." she says looking away.

"You have that dress even though it wasn't yours?" Joker asks though he obviously can tell that this object had some value to her, "So you went to Eden Prime? When it wasn't the target of a Reaper attack?"

Rhea leans back and takes a final smoke of her cigarette, "And it was quiet, and they didn't mind us being there either. We knew that the Scythe was on to us but like Krieg once said, we would have to face Krinal sooner or later. Krieg stealing Bylok's console was a move that was in our favour." she puts the cigarette out, "It was a standard issue and not Scythe hardware so they couldn't track us, and destroying the chits was a good idea though that would be the reason why Bylok knew it was Krieg that killed his wife."

"So where did you stay? Eden Prime has nothing but those tower colonies and a few ports." Joker recalls remembering visuals from the mission.

"And I stayed in one, and Krieg stayed with INC as they hacked into the Scythe database while I took a job at the clinic, under an alias of course. INC sorted me out with some fake credentials, my name was Namia Xenios." she laughs at the memory.

"What about Krieg? Did he have a fake name?"

Rhea nods, "He did, though people referred to him as 'Greyskin' due to his skin colour. However, he was popular. He helped fix the pipelines at the monorail in exchange for shelter."

"So you lived a civilised life while he was basically and illegal alien?" Joker says finding the reference amusing.

"For four months we both lived on Eden Prime under fake identities and we had very different experiences."…

**13/12/2159- Eden Prime Monorail Station, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster**

Krieg was wearing a black boiler suit and boots, having to once again wear human clothing as he now has a job within the community and this was a special time of year for humans as Christmas was approaching but this had no real value to Krieg. He has his hands dirty as he is currently fixing the mechanical parts that help the monorail move on the track and it has since halted its timetable though the station is near enough empty.

In the distance of the afternoon sky are buildings being constructed that would one day become one of the major settlements of the colony. There was one thing that he seemed to enjoy about working outdoors was that because humans were new to the community they didn't really know that much about aliens and therefore Krieg's existence was treated as any other alien rather than one the Council don't recognize.

Smoke emits from the damaged cart and he moves back and waves the smoke away from his eye-line but his eyes were covered with a pair of sunglasses with blue tints to protect his eyes from the sun, Utopia. INC wasn't present but Rhea indicated that it was with him. Krieg's status as an alien makes him popular as a sight more than anything as on the balcony above are about a dozen human youths, watching him like and animal.

One of them is a Caucasian boy on the far right not even in his teens holding a rock in his hand and being ambitious as the other teens watch and anticipate. He throws the rock in Krieg's general direction believing the smoke would cause confusion for him. Krieg feels the stone on hit the back of his head though his reaction is less understandable than anything as he sees this as some sort of game. He picks the stone back and throws it at the correct youth as the angle it was thrown was towards to his left.

One of the girls accompanying the boy crouches beside him and laughs, "He got you good, Tyson." she says looking at the cut on his forehead.

"Dickhead!" he shouts as the others laugh around him. He picks himself up and still holds his head, "My head."

Another boy about the same age walks up laughing, "I can't believe you threw the stone at the alien." he looks over and sees that a girl with brown hair who in late teens approaching the group, "Hey, your sister is here."

"Tyson? What happened?" she asks as she crouches down worried for her sibling.

The other boy speaks on his behalf, "The alien threw a rock at Tyson's head."

Her eyes widen and her expression turns from worry to anger, "Go home, Tyson. And that includes the rest of you, now!" She heads towards the ramp as she looks over to the smoke cloud that had formed though the majority of the leak had stopped. She looks to see Krieg standing there with an expression that he has fixed the initial problem. "I don't know how you do things on your planet but here we treat others with respect!" she says catches Krieg attention though his face doesn't seem to understand.

Krieg looks at the women, who was wearing a blue uniform with black pants and she wore a t-shirt with the monorail symbol on the left chest indicating that she worked here. "I was just passing back the kid his stone, he threw it at me so I guess he was playing."

She looks at him with confusion but with an apologetic look, "Sorry, I'll tell them to leave you alone. You hit my brother and I-"

"Don't worry about it, Catherine." he says heading by to a nearby bench and rubs the back of his head.

Her eyes trail him, "You know my name? Did you read my nametag?" he nods in response as she was under the impression that the alien couldn't read the English script, "The supervisor didn't say that you could read?"

The alien smiles as he leans back, "If he knew, I wouldn't have got a job here." he picks up a towel and wipes his hands, "And a place to live."

"Yeah, he told us not to go in the power room. I don't think having you here is legal?" she says checking above her to see that her brother has gone.

"Well, nobody has complained. I fix the monorail when it breaks down. You don't seem to mind either." he states.

Catherine nods, "Well, I need this job. Not many jobs here have good pay. I'll see you later." she says before heading back to where she came from and leaves Krieg about his business.

The grey alien is actually waiting for her to leave as he checks if the coast is clear before heading towards the engineering quarter of the port where Krieg now calls home as the alien pulls up the rest of his boiler suit on and buttons up. From the monorail he heads down the platform before entering the small single door leading into a small corridor with pipes running down to the end where there is another door. Walking down towards the end Krieg enters his small home which was an engine room though a hammock was set up for him to sleep on while the rest of the quarters were cluttered.

INC was within this room and placed on one of the crates with Bylok's console in front of it as it is constantly searching for information. Next to the console is Krieg's food supply which consists of sushi boxes and picks one up and eats it with his hand while leaning on one of the crates. "What have you found?"

"Processing: I have information on Scythe chapters within various locations. Thessia, Illium, the Citadel. The command structure is vague starting with associates, who normally work on behalf of Scythe activities though are not full members. Full-members are known as disciples who exile themselves to the Scythe chapters in order to serve. From here the information halts as their organization is just rumour according to sources, the last being over a millennium ago." INC states.

Krieg eats another piece of fish, "What about Krinal?"

"Processing: Even less. The associate list that I collect indicated that only asari are disciples. Krinal seems to represent a different wing of the Scythe and few sources indicate that they are called 'Acolytes'." INC informs and showing that it has recognized the difference.

"So Krinal is a separate part within a bigger organisation? And the machine is more selective, picking high ranked people like Vetos, a commissioner of C-Sec and that volus a few months back, being a glorified stock broker." Krieg sits next to his drone on a crate, "Then who does Krinal answer to? Are you sure you can't find anything else."

"Answer: We have a database of all chapters and associate members, along with a history of the Scythe and significant events. This information was decrypted from asari intelligence itself and there is nothing within the other two council races government files." it informs Krieg.

The alien remains still and ponders on what is actually the faction that Krinal represents, "I might call Rhea, after I finish this."

At this moment, Krieg's only other ally apart from INC was currently occupied within her own quarters in one of the spires that were built around the countryside of the planet as the same horizon can be seen within her apartment. The place itself was a standard living arrangement though it was only big enough for one person. Rhea had in her wardrobe a few medical outfits along with the dress that Krieg stole from Bylok's wife though she herself at the moment didn't have anything on her as she was lying in her bed with the sheets covering her body.

Her eyes are closed and she is biting her lip making sounds of pleasure because the activity below was causing such expression. Rhea opens her eyes for a second and the black dilution indicates that there is more going on than meets the eyes she lets out a scream before heavily breathing and relaxing herself. She waits for a person to climb out from under the sheet and begins nipping her neck, explaining why she was smiling.

The man himself was of mixed race and has a black buzz cut and a small goatee. He raises himself above her and smiles and she returns, pushing him onto his back and returning the favour heading under the sheets. He sits up a little before placing his left hand upon where her head is and reveals a gold band on his third finger, indicating that he was a married man. Closing his eyes he feels the warmth and is enjoying the feeling until a sound come from the earpiece on the side table, causing him to turn and pull a face of discomfort as he reaches for it and taps Rhea to stop what she was doing and she comes up to the sheet and resting on her side as she watches him take the call.

"This is Vince, what do you need?…Oh, hey Mike I was going to call you later?…Where am I?" he repeats as he looks at Rhea who is sticking her tongue out, "I'm getting a check-up…Yes, that alien is a babe." he says as she begin circling his nipple with her tongue and slipping her hand under the sheet causing him to flinch as she begins moving it up and down, "Yeah, yeah, can I call you back?…Thanks." and he switches the piece off before putting his head back and releasing himself and breathing heavily. "Fuck. You're a naughty girl."

She laughs as she peaks him on the cheek before getting out of the bed, "Who was that?"

"Mike is one of the soldiers at the base. We share a bunk together; he was asking about work-shifts for Christmas." he puts his hand behind his head, "He wants to get back to his family back on earth. I think that he wants me to cover for him."

"Why don't you? You'll get to stay with me." she replies as she heads towards the en-suite and switches the shower on.

Vince show a face of reluctance and looks at his ring, "Yeah, I'll most likely be busy at the base." he says as he gets up and walks over towards the shower and steps in and begins by kissing Rhea on the lips. "You are so easy on the eyes." he compliments before reaching for the soap and begins to wash her. The moment they are having blocks the fact that in Rhea's bed-sit another earpiece was going off as Krieg had decided to call her after all.

Krieg waits in his small home and has an earpiece attached to him but no answer can be heard from the other end though the reason why cannot be explained either. Pulling a face of benefit-of-the-doubt, the grey alien takes off the piece and sits on the crate next to his hammock. In his home most of his equipment still remained as the suitcase with the amps was next to Bylok's console and next to that was his Scorpion armour, neatly packaged and covered in dust and showing its lack of use within the past four months. His belt which he has carried since he awoke lay next to the armour but not for long as the grey alien puts it around his waist.

"I'm going to head over to Rhea's place, I feel like taking a walk." He says to INC but no reply is given, "Can you continue finding more data?"

"Affirmative." INC replies before Krieg leaves the drone to its own devices.

Sedath sits within the tower of the new Acolyte base which was built on the ruins of the Bloodpack base that once stood proudly before Yox and Delphine's massacre. The salarian is currently in the middle of some networking between various criminals throughout the Terminus Systems ranging from Dogar to well-known batarian pirate gangs. The views from his visuals are coming from Scythe drones sent to monitor the situation throughout the galaxy but his eye is fixed upon Thessia where one drone seems not to be surveying criminals but an apartment, taking down the details of the address but the information is immediately relayed towards Krinal in his underground layer underneath the planet's surface.

Among Sedath's company is Yox and Delphine as the pair have been permanently assigned to the superior Acolyte after their previous failures. They're both increasingly board with their new occupation as bodyguards to Sedath. They were both clad in their silver armour and Yox watches the ship port below as the Main Scythe continue to bring resources to the base despite their open dislike of Krinal.

The salarian closes the screens when an incoming call tone can be heard and replacing them is a holographic visual of Krinal's head, "Sedath, give me a report?"

"Everything seems to be going to plan, Emissary. The criminal rings in target sectors have reduced their crime rates and have made significant progress in recruitment. Omega is the only area which doesn't have an Acolyte presence."

"Of course, Aria has gained much control since Krieg's visit. She will have no choice but to turn to our cause eventually. With minor groups uniting under me, major groups will suffer." A brief pause from the machine before it talks again, "Have you located Rhea T'Anya yet?"

"No Emissary. The console of Bylok's seemed to give them an edge in hiding from us." Sedath says.

A cold sigh is heard, "Bylok. A shadow of his former self."

"He is in pain, he lost his wi…"

"I know what he lost Sedath, but we all lose something sometime. Send Yox and Delphine to Tuchanka, I have a new assignment for them. A shuttle and dossier of their assignment has been inputted, they are to leave immediately." Krinal states before switching off abruptly.

Delphine smiles as it seems that her a Yox were finally able to get off the planet again, "Finally, fucking real work for a change."

Yox nods, "At least we know that we're still useful, otherwise would have been dead long ago."

Sedath turns his head towards the pair, "You heard the Emissary. Your shuttle is waiting at port six. Oh, and it seems that you'll be taking a friend along, Filestra."

"The turian girl?" Yox replies.

Delphine rolls her eyes, "Great." Delphine says in a harsh tone showing dislike for the turian as she leads the krogan towards the elevator of the tower.

Sedath switches the monitors back on only to bring up a map of the Milky Way with the dozens of star systems known by the races of the galaxy. While the Citadel control a significant proportion, with the Alliance included as well as the still Citadel-aligned batarians, the Terminus was greater. He types in a few digits to bring up the relay points and their locations. He sees which would be the most useful for their activities though a small dot on his map indicates the location he was looking for, Eden Prime. It seemed that Sedath for the past four months had been looking at the various transport routes from the Volus Station and has pinpointed Krieg and Rhea's location to the human colony and two other worlds.

According to the map, Sintarrio was currently investigating one of the worlds while another agent occupies another system within the Terminus. Sedath brings up the data file of a recruit being dispatched to Eden Prime with the name 'Michael Riley' and a picture of the new recruit. This human was white and had brown hair and stubble across his face but another feature was a visor across his right eye. According to his records, he was one of the many veterans of the First Contact War and is nothing more than a mere mercenary nowadays.

The man himself was in fact already on the planet and exiting a huge shuttle along with other potential colonists though he wears heavy Ursa armour with the various weapons needed to take down a unit let alone one life-form. His helmet is also unique as it bears a painting of what looks like a wolf's head, fused with the helmet as the human puts it on before walking towards the nearest monorail transport.

Krieg is within metres of Rhea's building near the main settlement with the tall grey structure towering over the country side and ruining the skyline but preserving the land. These settlements were more like apartment blocks and the ranges of people living in them was diverse but were also all here for a common purpose, to start anew.

Krieg remained distant under a tree upon a hill and watches the humans collecting crops and smiles at the sight of this peaceful community. He takes out his earpiece from his belt and puts it on again. A ringtone immediately being heard from small implant and the grey alien waits for an answer though the time is bad for Rhea who is currently occupied by kissing her lover goodbye.

Rhea winks to the human and watches him enter the nearest elevator before she rolls her eyes and enters her apartment. This time she picks up the earpiece and puts it on, "Yes, Krieg?"

"Hey Rhea, can I come up?" he is heard asking on the other end.

Rhea looks out her window but due to the floor she was on she couldn't see Krieg, "I thought I said don't come here?"

"When you don't answer I get worried." This causes Rhea to sigh, "Listen, INC has decrypted more information on the Scythe." He explains catching her attention.

"Okay, come up." She says before heading towards her wardrobe and reaching for a generic medical outfit that she would normally wear to work. She puts on the outfits while talking to Krieg, "So how is work?"

"It's good. I had to repair the monorail again. Some kid threw a rock at me so I just threw it back."

Rhea raises an eyebrow, "Did you hit him?"

"Of course, sneaky bastard thinks he can throw a rock at me and get away with it."

She chuckles before taking his actions seriously, "A kid? Krieg, surely you can pick on someone your own size?"

"Actually it makes a nice change compare to most enemies we face."

"That's true. Have you heard anything about my status?" she asks.

"Not really, but I don't think that it is changed since. You're still a wanted criminal in Citadel Space."

She sighs in disappointment, "I know, that sucks. Have you managed to locate Krinal?"

"No, but INC has located Scythe chapters across the galaxy." Krieg informs as he walks into the apartment and switches his earpiece off, "And they're all asari."

"All asari? What are you getting at Krieg?" she wonders as she puts the last piece of her clothing on.

"Remember on Intai'sei when you were ambushed by asari commandos? They were Scythe Disciples, true Scythe Disciples. Delphine, Vetos, Yox, they work under Krinal, who is a faction within the same organisation."

"So Krinal isn't the true enemy?" she asks to both him and herself.

Krieg crosses his arms before heading towards the window, "I'm not sure. Krinal must have another angle to it; the machine would never bow to asari."

"Do you think it has infiltrated the organisation?"

"Maybe, but Krinal is getting close. I feel it every day." Krieg confesses with frustration, "I'm sorry, ever since we've settled I've been getting restless."

Rhea looks at her friend and approaches him with an arm on his shoulder, "Want to talk about it?"

Krieg sighs as he leans on the balcony of the window, "We've done this before, settled somewhere for so long. We make friends and then all of a sudden, Krinal appears and destroys what we have. I just wish that this would be over soon."

"It will be over, and we'll be together when it happens." She states though the expression from Krieg is less enthusiastic.

"I don't know? The more INC finds about the Scythe, the more confusing it gets. Krinal is a machine who works for the asari yet at the same time these asari are supremacist. So why let Krinal hire non-asari?"

"Some groups go against their beliefs for their own gains." Rhea concludes.

Krieg thinks to himself, "No, there must be a reason why he picks specific members. Power? Control maybe? Krinal has been recruiting criminals of certain bands throughout the Terminus. Littirian was replaced by Dogar and the same thing is happening across the region. They are organising something big." Krieg stands straight and looks at Rhea directly, "I want to leave the planet."

"Sure." Rhea says agreement.

"Alone."

"What? Alone? By yourself?" she asks though she knows what it means.

"Yes, I need to drive the Scythe attention away from you. This happens to be the best way." Krieg admits though the idea still isn't going down well with Rhea.

Rhea turns around for a second to pull a face of confusion before facing the grey alien again, "You're going to leave me here? By myself?"

"No, INC will be with you and you can look after yourself. Besides, everything seems to be going well for you here. You have a job, people like you-"

"That's not the point, Krieg!" she says in a frustrated tone, "I thought you were dead set on keeping me safe?"

"I am. I'll keep in contact with you."

"Oh yeah, thanks!" she shouts sarcastically, "What is going on in your head Krieg? Just go okay, I've got work in an hour." She orders though she doesn't look at him in the eye.

Krieg swallows his sadness as his originally intentions are now under fire and his current position with Rhea is bad once again. He reluctantly leaves the asari to her own devices as she looks outside at the view trying to forget Krieg recent words.

Though words weren't spoken between the two both Filestra and Delphine had a natural dislike towards each other. The asari believed that the turian thought she was above them though the same could be said for Delphine as the two Acolytes sit on chairs facing the front of the ship. Yox was positioned behind Filestra and at the pilot's seat was a Scythe Drone hovering instead of resting as the tentacles of the machine were implanted in the controls giving it full access to the helm while the organics relax in the descent but limited environment.

The ship they were on was small when looked on from the outside being a smooth craft and having a point nose while having a tapered end, similar to a reaper. It was silver in colour though two lines running from front to back gave off a blue glow. The sides of the ship were carrying weaponry and this was a ship built for a certain purpose.

Within the ship the three of them have their attention grabbed by a visual of Sedath's head, "I see you're getting yourselves comfortable within the ship? Good, you have your assignment. This mission must succeed if we are to catch Krieg."

"Why does Krinal want us to go to Tuchanka if we know he isn't there?" Filestra asks.

Sedath's head turns to the young turian, "The Emissary requires the subject in question to be brought back to his headquarters for reasons unknown at this time. But just because 'you don't know', doesn't mean that you can disobey the order, understand?" Filestra nods, "Good, enjoy yourselves." And the image of the salarian fades.

Delphine immediately brings up the dossier of the area they are going to land on. It was a skyscraper though most of it had been destroyed from years of bombardment, having only twenty-five floors left and the top was exposed and weak, "That roof is too soft for the ship. We'll need to be dropped off and the ship stay afloat." She says.

"We could try starting from the ground up? That's where the action is going to be." Yox states.

"That's too risky. If we have to succeed, then we should take a more careful approach."

"How about you two go from the top and I cover you with the ship?" Filestra puts forward.

Delphine shakes, "That's stupid, you'll expose yourself."

"Or give us the distraction we need." Yox says agreeing with the turian. "If there are hostiles, then a sniper would be useful in taking them out. Makes our job easier."

The asari suddenly feels two on one as Yox normally sides with her though nods reluctantly knowing that the young turian had come up with a decent strategy. "Fine, but we'll need the drones to help us. We'll split into two then, I'll lead one and Yox lead one. The target needs to be cornered and subdued, not killed."

"What if he gets too hostile?" Yox wonders as he understands the possibility of things going wrong on the enemy's side rather than theirs. He points to both sides of the building, one facing north and the other south. "The two stair cases here should be our points of entry, whatever is in there; at least we are fighting on two fronts."

"True. But what about their numbers? How many are we talking about?" Filestra asks.

Delphine turns to Yox for statistic, "From what I remember, this is Weryloc territory. So the place will be heavily guarded."

"Relay approaching! Relay approaching!" says the audio system as the three of them prepare to enter the Mass Relay local to this area. Within seconds they are at light speed and heading towards their destination of the Krogan DMZ.

At the monorail station the human called Catherine stands at the help desk and is doing what she is paid to do, answer and deal with complaints from passengers. At this current time she is dealing with a colonist who is complaining about having to buy an extra ticket during the breakdown and believes that he is entitled to a refund. He isn't the only one as seven other people were standing behind this man with the same complaint and the teen is stressing out.

The room she stands in is small and only is meant to be and in/out type of counter, which in itself was glassed up so that if the customer got violent there would be some form of protection. The walls were grey like the station itself though the back room for the staff seemed a bit cosier, decorations with couches and a coffee dispenser by the other vending machines.

The situation doesn't help when her younger brother approaches once again to the spaceport though this time Krieg isn't around to throw rocks at. Catherine sees Tyson over the persons shoulder and directs the boy to come to the counter and boy heads towards the staff door and enters, thanks to her pressing a button by the console.

Tyson waits for Catherine to turn the corner into the staff room, "Tyson, I told you to go home."

"Mom and Dad asked what time you would be back, you missed dinner." The boy states which is true as the sky was getting darker and the situation more intense.

"They could have just called me." She says though she sees what her brother has done, "You told them I lost my phone again didn't you?"

Tyson smiles, "I was board, I wanted to come back."

Catherine leans her head around the corner to see the group of customer waiting with the main protester banging the window, "Just sit down and shut up." She orders before heading back into the booth and painting on a smile, "Sir, I told you. Eden Prime Rail does not refund for you missing you train."

"I only went to the bathroom." The man says.

"Yeah, and we were dining in the restaurant." A woman says backing his argument.

"You were given multiple warning that the train was going to leave." She informs though the door opens behind the group. Catherine is trying to listen to the man's complaint but the voices of people being pushed aside catch her attention as she watches a hand move the man to reveal himself. It was Riley and his appearance in full armour was intimidating. "Can I help you sir?" she asks.

"I'm looking for an alien, grey skin?" He replies coldly.

Catherine knows that this person is trouble and doesn't want to put Krieg in danger despite not knowing about his true nature, "Sorry, I can't help you."

The man who was pushed aside looks at Riley, "Hey jerkoff! Back of the line!" he orders though Riley doesn't move.

The human instead takes his pistol from his left hip and points it at the man's forehead shocking the people around him as they gasp. This is followed by terrified screams as he pulls the trigger and the man falls to the ground, "How about now?"

The young human is terrified of the mercenary and through fear of his actions cause more panic as she begins running towards the staff room, Riley pulling the trigger with the glass cracking. Tyson is confused when his sister pushes him towards the corner and crouch together, the girl fearing the worse as the continuous shots are heard but covers her brother for protection.

A few seconds pass and the two remain in a state of despair but only Catherine sees the next event as an object smashes the booth widow and flies into the wall on the other side of the staff room opposite them. She sees that it's Riley who is crawling back up but as soon as he does, Krieg enters the room and uses a biotic charge on the human, again knocking him into the wall. Riley this time is quick on the draw and pulls his pistol after contact is made but the shots are fairly random, hitting lighting and machines across the room and gives off sparks. This causes Catherine to clench Tyson more. Krieg ducked at this time and reaches for Riley's armed wrist and succeeds though there is an initial struggle. The human mercenary punches the grey alien a few times and on the third Krieg is winded and crouches while Riley continues his assault by kicking the alien in the face.

Krieg falls to the ground and opens his eyes to see the barrel of the pistol pointing at his head but a quick kick hurls the pistol over towards the two innocents. He doesn't waste time when using his momentum to trip Riley and mounts him and attempts to unmask the human. There is a struggle but this is to distract Krieg while Riley pulls a knife from the back of his waist and stabs the alien in the leg. Instead of a simple cry of pain, the sound is amplified by the almost feral nature and Krieg is kicked off the human, trying to pull the knife from his leg.

Riley uses this brief moment to get back to his feet and see that Catherine was reaching for the pistol. He immediately makes her regret the action as pulling his assault rifle out and fires against the ceiling to cause the girl to retract her limb and hold Tyson again. He directs the pair to stand up and walk towards the now broken window which they both climb over and the mercenary follows, making this a hostage situation. He leads them out of the building and down the ramp of the station near the edge of the monorail platform, keeping his rifle up as he remains calm and knows what he is doing.

"Stay there! Or the little one gets a bullet in his brain!" He threatens, "You shouldn't have lied, bitch. Bad mistake. When I have my alien, you and I are going to discuss your punishment."

Catherine knows what he is implying though the subject is to adult for Tyson to understand. The two stand with fear holding hands. Riley is only using the two of them as bait as he waits silently for his target to reveal himself once again though by standing facing the civilians, he can't see who is coming from behind. He waits only seconds as the scanning of the human female proves useful when her eyes focus upon another object behind him. He ducks and watches his knife miss him by inches and head straight into Catherine's left shoulder and falls to the ground.

Turning around, he sees Krieg taking off the top half of his boiler suit, ripping parts where necessary and is ready to fight the other human. He starts by letting Riley make the first move and fire his assault rifle towards him though the grey alien roles to the left near a wall and hops on the vertical service, using it as a spring himself closer to the armoured human.

He grabs the top of the rifle with his right arm and uses his left to punch him in the stomach but also uses his biotic powers in addition to the physical contact. Riley ends up hitting his back on the ceiling as the force is the same a car at a certain speed while Krieg is now in possession of his rifle. The fight continues as the human plays mouse while Krieg is the cat, Riley running towards a more combat friendly spot and a chance to recover and get his composure back.

Tyson on the other hand is crawling by his older sister, who is groaning in pain as the knife that belonged to Riley was now lodged into her shoulder. He, as an infant compared to his sister has no knowledge and continues to wonder how he can help. Worried for their safety he turns to see that Riley is running up the ramp of the station and towards the top, where the landing pad was for small cargo ships but Krieg wasn't anywhere to be found.

Inside of Krieg's home within the boiler room INC detects Krieg's presence as well as signs of stress and lifts itself up from the crate and hovers its way out of the room, through the corridors and outside to the station.

Scanning the area immediately it targets Tyson's heat signature as well as Catherine's and within seconds is behind the young boy. Tyson can hear the sound being emitted from INC and turns slowly but is too afraid to move when he comes face to face with INC eyes. The machine ignores the boy and focus on Catherine. Changing its vision to X-ray, he finds the blade dangerously close to the human's heart though it doesn't have the tools to heal her. Instead it patches a message to the local authority and catches their attention while Krieg continues his skirmish with Riley, its next location.

"Tyson...Tyson?" Catherine says though her consciousness is waning.

The young boy sees his sister in pain but can't express it. He grabs hold of her hand and waits while the sound of gunfire can be heard from above as Riley and Krieg continue their battle.

Rhea is within the confides of her office where she made a living as a doctor to humans though her status as an alien is more of a novelty than anything as her figure appeals to men while her intellect to women. Her office was in the corner and the room itself consisted of a desk and a medical bed for examinations along with a cabinet of various antibiotics and first aid equipment. She was currently typing on her console and her recent conversation with Krieg was in the back of her mind though the thought of him actually leaving was strange as she felt somehow attached to the grey alien, and he to her.

Her mind is distracted when a man of African descent wearing a white coat enters and puts a box on her desk and smiles, "Hello Namia, how are we today?" he asks using her false name.

"I'm fine thanks, Ben. I was just going over some recent visits. Human physiology is actually quite easy." She states.

"Well we need all the help we can get. Most of the colonists here are farmers and ex-soldiers, not many medical staff around this settlement." He says though disagrees with it. He notices that she looks troubled, "Is there something wrong?"

Rhea smiles weakly and lets the other doctor sit opposite her, "Well, I heard some news that a friend of mine is leaving the colony, and I feel sort of…never mind. I was just feeling a bit alone."

"You're worried about being alone, not many aliens live here as it is. This is a human colony after all." He points out though it is already blatant.

"I know that, but I haven't had any problems with people such as yourself. Not many people have really been bothered that I'm an alien."

"Well, after First Contact War people are beginning to get used to the idea of aliens. However meeting an alien that doesn't look odd is more pleasing than most." Ben compliments though wasn't flirting.

Rhea smiles in comfort but doesn't make eye contact, "I've learnt a lot too. I was once in a position to hate humanity but now I feel nothing. My boyfriend was killed at Shanxi." She tells him referring to Thalian Arterius.

"I see, don't worry. Things have changed for all of us, but not all things." The doctor says before standing, "Wel,l I'd better be off to the other wards. Catch you later." He says before exiting the office and leaving the asari to continue the work.

She then begins to type into her console again though her English wasn't as advanced as she hoped with errors self-correcting themselves and saving her a job of reading through her reports again and again. She stops when her earpiece lying on the desk begins to make a sound and she knows that it must be Krieg. She looks at it hard but eventually ignores the piece and switches it off.

Krieg wasn't on the other line though as the grey alien was the chaser to Riley, who had now fled to the high ground of the station for better vantage. The human was hid behind a few crates and kept his back against them with his sniper rifle firmly in his hands and breathing heavily as he didn't originally plan for such a tough job. The area that the crates were situated was one of the two landing pads for a Kowloon Class Vessel, the ships landing here before dropping supplies off and heading to their next destination. Riley takes one last breath before blowing his cover and aiming towards the other platform.

When he looks through the scope he sees nothing so averts his eyes above to see Krieg standing in front of him. Before shots can be fired the alien grabs the barrel of the rifle and pull the weapon out of Riley's hands, swinging it away from them both as Krieg continues the battle on a more personal level. The grey alien steps on the crate and kicks Riley in the face though his helmet does protect him but not for the next attack. Krieg jumps in mid-air and uses his biotics to take control of the crate underneath him. He directs it into Riley and the human is taken with it towards the edge of the platform. Krieg walks slowly towards the edge of the platform slowly while Riley hangs on for dear life.

The wolf-shape helmet can't show his expression, "Hey! Hey! Help me!"

Krieg smiles as he crouches to the human and looks in his eye, "Who sent you? I won't ask you again?"

"I don't know, some guy contacted me a few months ago saying that they have my wife and-"

Krieg shakes his head, "I'm not interested in you problems, who sent you?"

"I don't know. They wouldn't give me any other information on themselves."

"Not good enough I am afraid." He says uses his biotics to lift the human and plays with him in the air though a seventy foot drop into a valley was below, "You not much use to me alive, are you?"

"No, no, wait. The person who gave me this job, gave it to me on Shanxi."

"What did he look like?" he asks looking at him in the eye upside down.

"It wasn't a he. She didn't show her face but she told me it was in somebody's best interest." Riley reveals.

"Why Shanxi? Why not asari space?"

"Asari space?" Riley wonders in confusion though he begins to feel himself moving away from him, "No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" can't be heard as he is flung into the valley and never to return.

Krieg watches and hears the human fall to his death only to be approached by INC afterwards, "Question: Is this another death you wish to keep secret from Rhea?" the machine asks.

He looks at it, "If you don't mind. He said something about the Scythe being on Shanxi." He says though in a way like he has been there before. "If the trail starts there then it's still hot, and maybe I can find Krinal."

"Information: I managed to scan the human's data network and he had sufficient data on Rhea."

"Like what?" Krieg asks.

"Addresses, history, and known aliases. He seemed to know everything about her."

"They must have been using her to get to me again. Delete every data file you can get of Rhea, for her own safety we need to wipe her from existence." Krieg ensures though is cold in his decision.

"What of Rhea herself?" INC wonders.

"She is okay for now. She'll be safe with you but I must continue." He looks at the machine, "I'll send you a message when to rendezvous again. Otherwise, she can't know where I am going but I'll keep 'you' updated. Shanxi isn't the best place for her to be." He states as he begins to walk back towards where he came, the machine wandering behind.

"Question: What are you taking with you?"

"Just the bare essentials, otherwise everything else is Rhea's, not that it is much." Krieg answers, "I better get out here fast, otherwise I'll be held for questioning for what happened to Catherine." He notices that the monorail platform is completely unattended though the surviving members of the group that complained about paying extra are now gathering around the female who has lost consciousness.

"Explanation: I informed the authorities, I'll send you tabs on the progress."

Krieg lets out a deep exhale, "Thanks. Sorry I have to leave like this, but you understand?" he lets of a sigh before saying the next sentence, "Good, I hope Rhea does as well. But don't tell her about Catherine, please?" and gets a reassuring sound from INC. He nods to the machine before leading the way down the building as Medical transports begin to arrive at the bottom.

Sedath sits in his chair and notices that Riley's signature has gone meaning that he is dead. The salarian leans back and smiles, knowing that after months of searching they had found them though whether or not they would get to Krieg in time couldn't be told. He takes a breath and gets a brief look at the setting sun before continuing and imputing data into one of his screens that was tracking Sintarrio's process and the directional course of the turian machine changes from the Attican Traverse towards Alliance Space.

He also watches the shuttle that holds the trio of Acolytes heading to Tuchanka for a mission, noticing that they were getting close. He begins to open a channel with Krinal and waits for the machine to respond though it takes a while.

"Yes, Sedath. What is your status?"

"Emissary, Riley's dead. It seems that the hunch was right and the drone would extract the files in time as well. I have directed Sintarrio to a planet called Eden Prime, he'll keep surveillance for the next few months." He informs.

"Excellent, the information they took will help us split the pair. He'll be worried about her safety."

"May I ask on how you can be sure?" the salarian wonders.

There is a silence before an answer, "He is attached to the asari, and his separation would be in her best interests."

"I understand. The three Acolytes you sent are nearing Tuchanka, you still haven't revealed anymore details on their mission apart from the target."

"When the mission is complete, I will debrief you. For now, keep an eye on their systems. I want a report immediately."

"Yes, Emissary." Sedath says as the line is cut and leaves the machine on the other line.

Krinal itself was sitting on its chair and looking at the various screens and among them is the picture that one of its drones took from an apartment earlier. It continued looking at more images to reveal that the apartment was on Thessia and was the home of Vessana, Rhea's mother. Though it had initially believed that attacking them would be useless and expected but in fact he had been surveying her and her new partner, Vinel Rhodius for the past few years from the Citadel to the asari homeworld. The machine's three glowing eyes are dim though focused as these were hard times for this faction.

A screen appears flashing in front of it and the eyes glow immediately though it couldn't show true body language its movements express fear more than anything. A hologram begins to appear from the shadows in the form of a cuttlefish. It was a familiar sight though by Joker's time, and the sight was a surprise even to Krinal who gets of its chair and bows to the reaper itself. "Emissary Krinal, you have failed."

"No, I have succeeded. We've found them."

"The alien was your responsibility and for the past five years and you have caused much disruption in our plans." It reveals and revealing that Krinal is working on behalf of the reapers directly. "The alien wasn't meant to be independent; otherwise its uses are limited."

"I know, but I am so close. Give me more time. The plan for the Terminus is coming into motion and I have sent Acolytes to test my recent project's completion."

"K-Thousand and the two other remaining clones were stationed in that facility on the Krogan homeworld, and 'one' escaped with memories of the experiments, Sintarrio and other secrets. You are becoming unreliable each second of your brief existence." The Reaper says explaining how the clone of Krieg knew about Sintarrio and other secrets.

"Please, Nazara. I can prove my worth, have I not for millennia?"

"Indeed, you loyalty is unfound in most." Sovereign admits, "However, in order to prove your worth you must follow the direct orders of those greater."

"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way." Krinal says surrendering to it, "My army is almost ready." The machine states looking up.

On Tuchanka it had been a few days since the trio arrived and the trip wasn't eventful as both Delphine and Filestra are running down a ruined hallway and were being chased by something though the shadows didn't reveal it. The turian fires back though this is just to distract it and has no effect, but light screams can be heard. The pair run up to the staircase upwards towards the top which is the way they planned to come from originally though their plan had seemed to change for some unknown reason.

A few minutes pass before they reach the top, only three floors above but still the building was a dead end for them. Yox was exiting another entrance to the exposed roof though he was firing his rifle down the staircase at something making noise as well, meaning that they were multiple in numbers as opposed to one. The trio look at each other and get close covering each other's backs before the project themselves reveal their physical forms. They were not multiple, but in their dozens as walking, crawling and limping if injured up onto the roof.

They were vorcha but these were different in their appearance as they with pale in colour and their skin was dead. Their eyes were glowing blue and cybernetics covers their bodies as they gave off loud screams of pain and anger. These were husks though how the vorcha became such monstrosities were a mystery as they slowly begin to approach the trio who were on their last legs. Krinal had used them as test subjects for his new soldiers.


	26. One Enemy, Two Faces

**Chapter XXVI: One Enemy, Two Faces**

**14/12/2159- Eden Prime, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster**

It's been one day since the incident at the monorail station and the building now covered in military wearing Onyx armour with no soldier more than five metres away from another. Civilians are closed off though many from the locals from colony towers have come to see what has happened but with the military vehicles and a barricade that allows only military personal inside, their view is limited. On the two landing platforms above that would normally be used for shipping and trade are now close off and replaced by a survey team looking for clues of what might have occurred here. But it was only yesterday when Krieg was fighting a bounty hunter named Riley who suffered the fate of falling from the platform to his death down in the valley below.

In that same valley the body was still lying on the ground and his weapons scattered around him. The team that was examining the crime scene were being very careful and instead of walking underground itself they were using hovering platforms, three to a platform and a searchlight for anything they might miss. They seem to find nothing else but the body itself and the helmet still attached so there was no visual identification of Riley but that wouldn't be for long.

On these platforms were two people wearing lab coats similar to standard medical staff on spaceships and one soldier for protection though Eden Prime wasn't considered too dangerous. One of the soldiers on the platforms was Vince who was having an affair with Rhea, cheating on his wife though at this time he was concerned about this but his work was priority like most soldiers in the military. As his platform hovers 30 yards away from the body and next to small campsite that has been set up the soldier steps off and heads towards the main tent.

He walked inside and salutes the person sitting in the chair, "Sir, permission to speak?"

"Granted." says the strong Scandinavian voice.

"We've surveyed the area three times over and the body is the only object of interest." Vince says and stands straighter more when the commanding officer stands and reveals himself.

It was Bjorn Magnusson, much younger than is 2185 counterpart though continue to wear similar attire, which consisted of the blue Alliance shirt and pants with the addition of N7 in his left chest, "Excellent Sergeant, order your troops to return to their normal positions." He orders before letting him go and opening suitcase that's on his desk. The suitcase has many items but he pulls out a small earpiece and puts it into his left ear and pressing a button before speaking, "Staff Lieutenant Tyler, this is Second Lieutenant Magnusson reporting from Eden Prime, please respond?"

A few seconds pass and the sound of the other line is switched on, "This is Staff Lieutenant Tyler, what is your report?"

"The body is ready for extraction, permission to bring the body to Arcturus ASAP?"

"Permission granted, Second Lieutenant. Leave the area and report to Alliance Command immediately, Tyler out." his superior orders but not revealing why Riley's body is so interesting to them that they have to bring it back to the headquarters.

Above at the station itself the crowd was getting restless and demanded to know what was actually happening though no soldier was willing to respond and stayed at the post. Rhea herself was not in the crowd but looking on from a distance standing under a tree with her pistol in a holster on the left hip.

She was wearing her medical attire but had an earpiece in as well and the piece of technology was trying to contact Krieg himself. The grey alien had since fled the planet via an unknown source and intended to go to Shanxi but this wasn't known to Rhea. It was known to INC however, who had placed itself above in the tree to hide from the military but at the same time keep its promise to Krieg and protects Rhea.

She pulls a face of frustration before pressing the button on her earpiece, "He still isn't answering."

INC remains in the tree but acknowledges her, "Answer: He will not, for your safety."

Rhea leans against a tree and looks up, "My safety? What about him? He his travelling on his own, how will he survive?"

"He has done it before." It states reminding her of the time she was on the Citadel alone.

She thinks to herself and realises that Krieg can handle his own affairs though she's part of them, "I guess you are right. I should lay low for a while until he contacts us." She says signalling the machine to come down and escort her back to her home a few miles away.

She doesn't notice however that in the sky is a shimmer of light passing by which is something familiar as the object is in spike-form at this time though when reaching the nearest spire quickly converts to its organic-like form of the species it once was. Sintarrio had arrived just as Sedath ordered him to with the turian crawling around the central antenna and taking over the local network for his advantage while at the same time his eyes glow as he scans the countryside. The Scythe was here and Rhea didn't even know.

**2185- Rhea Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"So he just left?" Joker asks confused at Krieg though he knows where he went.

Rhea nods and takes a smoke of her cigarette, "He deliberately severed contact for a period and when Sintarrio appeared it made it near impossible." She adds before looking at the time and realising that they have been talking for hours, "Whoa, it's late and we better get some rest."

He also looks at the time and knows that he'd better get some sleep before he loses track of the days, "Fair enough, good night Rhea." He says before standing up and stretching his bones which were very stiff at this time. He limps a few steps before walking normally and towards his room down the hall. He sees his bed is the same way he left it and takes off his shirt and pants before entering it and pulling the sheet over, closing his eyes.

Rhea waits for Joker to close the door before she herself gets up and instead of walking to her room she walks to her Command Centre next to it and sits down on the chair and puts her headphones on so that the conversation she has is private. She looks at the screen brings up a map of the Citadel to look at where her two teams over currently at this moment.

She had two teams on the Citadel that worked for her and it was recently that one was attacked by Cerberus, the very people after her at this time. It is revealed on-screen that Pyro team, the team that was attacked by Cerberus has moved their position to the other half of Zakera Ward which was the Ward that Rhea and Joker were on anyway while Cryo team, the surveillance team were still in their position near the docking bay watching the Normandy.

"Come in Cryo team leader, this is Capt. Rhea T'Anya." She says waiting a few seconds.

"Captain, the Normandy is currently occupied. We have held position and still no signs of life entering the ship. We have however found the cause of the cloaking device that blocks us from scanning the inside." The voice says.

"And? What is it?" She asks curiously.

The voice continues, "It seems the Normandy is running not by a crew but an AI made from remnants of a Reaper. I suggest that in this case we board the ship."

"No!" Rhea quickly states before looking to see if Joker heard, "No, we don't know who is on board and if Cerberus still have control of the ship then they will know that I didn't come here alone. Has there been any news on the killing of the Dark Star?"

"Nothing, C-Sec is confused at the randomness as usual. What are your orders?"

"Rendezvous with Pyro Team and I will give you orders from there." She says as she leans back and thinks about the past few days and the current events that have led to this moment. She was stuck in her bunker in an unknown location at the end of one of the wards with the pilot that flies the ship considered Cerberus property. She knows what she's doing is risky but hopes for the best possible solution. Getting up, she walks into her room and sits down on her bed putting her head into her hands and sighing before getting ready to sleep.

While they are resting Captain Bailey is in his office on Zakera Ward still as he's decided to work late tonight. This is one of the benefits of having a family on earth rather than living at home with you as he can focus on his work rather than the progress of his loved ones. It had been a long day since the incident at the Dark Star and he was going over the video footage that was taken near the club to get a better idea of what exactly happened.

His eyes are squinting like he is looking for something in particular as there were still some people on his mind after all this time. He saw both Rhea and Joker before they boarded her car and headed to her safehouse though Bailey doesn't know who they are but uses instinct never the less to know that they are somehow a missing link in the case.

He fast forwards the footage away from the actual incident itself to the point where C-Sec began setting the parameter and a crowd began formulating around the crime scene. He looks at his own image and the human is addressing some officers and civilians before looking into a certain direction. It's at this point where Bailey stops the footage of himself and moves his focus from himself to the focus of his view, moving it towards a crowd of people.

"Long night, Captain?" says a figure leaning against the opening of the post as Bailey looks up and recognises him, "Sit down, Bailey. You're not in the Military anymore."

Bailey waits for the figure to shake his hand, "Magnusson, what are you doing here?"

"I had some business with Anderson up in the Presidium and I thought I would see how you're getting along at your new post. It was shame you quit the Alliance when you did." Magnusson states.

"Well, some of us aren't married to our careers." He states referring to him.

Magnusson is directed to a chair across Bailey's desk. The older human is courteous in putting his briefcase on the ground instead of the former soldier's desk. "True enough. How are the family by the way?"

"Oh, they keep in touch. Wish I could say the same for myself. Guess it's harder for career men." Bailey states as he sits down and rubs his eyes out of tiredness. "How's life at Arturus?"

"Boring, if it's not the politician down my neck it's the Admirals. Good thing there are still men like Hacket in charge." He states as the two smile in agreement and admiration for their friend. "But that's part of why I am here."

"You never did anything without there being a reason Bjorn, fire away." He says knowing he wants something.

Bjorn leans back, "I'm aware of the shooting that took place at the Dark Star; the Alliance is very interested in the incident due to the circumstances."

"What circumstances? It's a murder, it happens all the time." Bailey says through experience.

"Not exactly." Says Bjorn as he picks up his briefcase and opens it taking the file of Rhea he gave to Anderson and handing it to Bailey, "We believe it may have something to do with this asari."

Bailey has a good look at the file and instantly recognises the picture of the asari on the front as it was the same blue alien he was looking for on the video. He looks at the footage and double-takes the images, "Her. She was walking past the crime scene yesterday."

"She is a lucky survivor of the Purgatory incident, and a dangerous woman." Bjorn adds as he takes out an additional file, "Bailey. Your case is being given to the Alliance Military."

Bailey looks up and confused, "What? The Military only get involved in cases if the person or place is a threat to Alliance…Security…What has she done?"

"Rhea T'Anya has recently re-emerged on the terrorist circuit. The first major incident was Intai'sei 2158, resisting arrest for evading a Spectre investigation with Council interest. Not long after she was responsible for the death of General Tylirria, who was found dead in his office while on Pinnacle Station. Anderson and Ahern were there at Intai'sei but signed a non-disclosure until the recent human presence on the Council. For eighteen months they stayed in Terminus, involved with petty crime before laying low on Eden Prime."

"Okay, why is this important? What did she do that was so bad?"

"Well, personally I was involved in T'Anya's life for a period while she frantically was looking for one of her fellow terrorists. It started on Eden Prime around early 2160, not long after Valentine's day."…

**16/02/2160- Eden Prime Orbit, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster**

Bjorn sits within the hanger of an alliance frigate along with six other men wearing medium Onyx armour and armed with all the appropriate weapons though Bjorn is the only soldier with and N7 stripe on his left arm. He hasn't put on his helmet yet as he is currently waiting for the ship to enter the atmosphere of Eden Prime though attached to his back is additional backpack-like armour between the rifles and are worn by the other soldiers as well.

The hanger also houses a vehicle that was the prototype though the box-like design on wheels is far less advanced than the Mako or Hammerhead will be. The hanger itself has grey scaffolding along with the walls and floor and they watch as the ramp begins to open and the light breaks through to reveal to night sky, blocked by clouds that are lit by the ship. Bjorn sees this as the time to put his helmet on as he does it with haste and stands up with the rest of his unit and group walk closer to the ramp.

"Captain, how long until the drop-zone?" he asks through his helmet.

"You'll be approaching the tower in thirty seconds, good luck Lieutenant." answers the captain.

He walks up to the edge of the ramp and gets a good look at the outside of the ship. A few more seconds and he like the rest of his squad one-by-one after him dive out of the ship and through the clouds, as ordered. Bjorn looks through his helmet and sees a small marker upon it indicating his target as he drops a few thousand feet in seconds through the atmosphere and now has a clearer view of the target, the very building that Rhea stays in. From his view he can see the monorail station but heads towards the spire and pulls his parachute.

Within the next few seconds all six of them are circling the building and Bjorn himself lands on the top with two others while the remaining three continue down the spire with intent on landing in a different location. He presses a button attached to his right chest plate and the parachute retracts back into the back of his armour and this process is followed by the two other marines as they help their commanding officer in opening a vent entrance. They pull the vent off the hinges and place it on the side where they leave it and begin the second part of the infiltration of the building.

Starting with Bjorn the three of them shoot their pistols to the ceiling of the shaft and use it as a device for lowing themselves down. This process is lengthy and lasts until they reach the half-way point in which Bjorn uses a small piece of equipment and scans it over a pad that the elevator itself would originally use, opening the door for them and they swing onto the ledge.

They unhook themselves from the wires and pull out their assault rifles and walk down the hallway close to the wall in case of unexpected fire. They reach the door they intend to and the two other marines position themselves opposite Bjorn who has his back to the wall and his rifle ready as he slower reaches for the doors opening-scanner with the object he previously used. He waits a few seconds then scans and the marines are red alert as the doors open and Bjorn lead the men inside, into Rhea's room. He scans the room and finds that the place had been abandoned; her draws and wardrobe were open and empty while the console was still on.

"Where's Bravo team?" he asks as the torch on the end of his rifle can't find any trace of them. He looks out the window and sees that the ropes that they used were placed where they should be in front of her window to prevent Rhea from escaping but there was no sign of the marines themselves.

Bjorn is the first to approach the window and peaks his head over the balcony to see his three other marines, hanging from the ropes. The first is hanging by the right foot, the second by the wire tied around his wrists and the final member, the leader, by the neck, indicating they were dead. He turns around hastily to find one of his marines with his held by two hands coming from the ceiling. Bjorn looks up to find that something was on the ceiling as it broke the neck of the soldier.

He immediately fires at the object but it moves with speed and reflexes that surpass him as it drops to the ground and kicks the rifle from Bjorn's hands before using the momentum to spin-trip the human and stands over him. From what Bjorn can see it was feminine figure. The shape was humanoid and in appearance but the power it possessed wasn't as it picks up Bjorn by the one hand and pushes him out of the apartment. Before Bjorn falls to the ground he activates his parachute one more time to slow his fall though it doesn't prevent injury as the fall causes him to pass out.

His eyes open to find himself within someplace unfamiliar as he sits up and finds himself within the building again only this time it's the medical ward as the soldier was wearing a patient sheet over his body and not his armour. He knows from this that he has been unconscious for a few hours and looks around and finds that he is in a private ward with him being the only person inside as he gets up and looks around the dell grey room to see nothing but a bed and a table full of antibiotics.

He shakes his head in amazement that he survived though he quickly gets back on track and walks towards the door. He steps outside to find that the ward is the same as it usually is, people coming because they are sick and local doctors and nurses helping them. He knows from the dossier that Rhea is a trained doctor so begins a new search for her in the ward itself.

He makes sure that he isn't seen as he holds himself against the wall from time to time as the nurse walk past him before he follows the directions to the M.D. offices. This narrow corridor was for all doctors who had an office and there is one in particular that he is looking for and finds it at the end 'Doctor Xenios', Rhea's fake name as he opens the door not before placing himself out of sight. Looking around the corner he notices that nobody is in and quickly begins an additional search.

It's while he opens her console that Ben, another doctor on the ward walks in and drops his clipboard to see a half-naked man in the office. "Excuse me, sir. What are you doing here?" he asks before trying to recognise his patient number.

Bjorn stands up straight, "This is Alliance business, keep out of it."

"Yeah, it really is." Says Ben sarcastically before looking outside and seeing that nobody is coming, "You're that marine they found outside aren't you?" he asks before closing the door.

"What's it to you?" he asks while trying to open the console.

"What are you doing in Namia's office?" he demands to know.

Bjorn fails the first attempt at breaking the password, "I take it by Namia, you mean you're only alien on the employment list?"

Ben looks ta him strangely, "Yes, how did you know-"

"Because she happens to be the person I'm looking for." He states before opening the nearest draw to look for clues, "What time is she in today?"

"She isn't, she called in sick yesterday evening." The doctor informs though is confused with the situation, "Sir, what's going on?"

Bjorn tries a second attempt before sighing heavily, "Where is the rest of my men doctor?" he asks though the silence sends a chill down Ben's spine. Out of a mixture of frustration and confusion he walks around the desk and picks up Ben and slams him against the wall, "Where are my men?"

"Dead! There all dead." Ben says before being let go of, "They were going to tell you when you were a little more awake but I see that you are now. The local guard found three bodies hanging from the top of the building along with two others on the ground next to you."

"Did they tell you whose room it was?" Bjorn asks though still morning his fellow marines. He continues, "It was you colleagues, Namia's."

Ben raises an eyebrow, "Wait, you mean?

"I don't know if she killed them. All I know is my orders, detain the asari." He turns to the doctor, "I need my armour back."

"Sorry, but the guard took it for safe keeping." He says though Bjorn isn't having any of it, "They are contacting you're superiors."

"Fuck! Where are the guards for this spire?"

"Two floors down, but only authorised personal are allowed within their quarters." Ben explains before Bjorn smiles and looks at his identification knowing that an employee of the colony's spire he would have access. Within seconds, Ben is knocked out cold by unknown means but feels his ID card pull off his white coat.

Meanwhile at the monorail station everything was back to normal despite there being still a small military presence due to officers liaising between the station and the military base not far from it. Rhea and INC were currently in Krieg's old bedsit where he slept during their time on Eden Prime.

But the place was dusty though it was still habitable by the asari and her drone. She was currently lying on the hammock that Krieg did with a laptop on her stomach as she browses through it as INC once did. Next to the drone was a backpack which was carrying her necessities that she took from her apartment and lying on the crate next to her was her pistol. By the looks of things she anticipated that the Alliance were onto her and decided to flee but had no idea that two different parties were after her instead of just the Alliance.

She looks at the laptop screen to reveal the database that INC and Krieg compiled before he left. The file had a map of not just Krinal's faction but the whole Scythe organisation, right to the single leader known as the Grand Duchess. From her was the council, known as Duchesses themselves though of lower rank to the leader. It seems that each Duchess was the elected asari from each chapter and below them were marquises, the leader of a chapter though not of higher rank. With the location of each chapter they found the location of not just the Marquis, but her subjects known as disciples. She continues looking at Krinal's status within the organisation and finds that the machine has no authority within but at the same time the Duchesses have no authority over him though they are both allies, making his faction a chapter in itself made up from mainly races that were not asari.

"So you and Krieg worked on this network for months?" She asks amazed that the progress they made while she was fitting into society.

"Correction: It was I that created the database though Krieg was helpful with additional Intel." The machine corrects.

Rhea gets up and puts a laptop on a nearby crate before putting her pistol in her holster and sitting next to the machine, "I miss him." She says though still has no idea where he is at this time, "I wish he would have told us where he went." She says though INC does know that information.

"Caution: We have more pressing issues than finding Krieg at this time." It states.

She nods in agreement, "Sure, did you get a look at what it was that thing was looking around where that bounty hunter died?"

INC's eyes flash and on the floor creates hologram of the exact location where Riley had died though it had been many months since the body was no longer there and the equipment's that was used was abandoned. Rhea watches carefully as she waits for figure to appear upon the recording and her patience isn't unfounded. It was the figure that attacked Bjorn and his men and the person was now more recognisable with the additional light on it.

The figure was female in shape and humanoid though her body was fully covered by its helmet and on the body was armour that struck similarities to the same armour that the asari Scythe commandos wore on Intai'sei though this was a slimmer set of medium armour. The colour of the armour was black but no weapons.

Rhea looks at INC, "I recognise that armour." She says knowing its origin. "And you are sure that she headed to my apartment?" She asks.

"Positive: The subject was heading into your general direction before I sent the signal for you to flee." It reveals explaining why she wasn't their during Bjorn's infiltration.

She sits up and looks towards the exit which leads to the platform of the station, "So, where are we going?"

"A random location." INC reveals though not revealing that was where Krieg went.

"A random location?" She says with initial surprise, "Why that option?"

"Answer: Krieg's orders. He stated that if anything ever occurred that would be detrimental to your safety. He left instructions to flee."

Rhea looks at it like she was just insulted, "What do you mean? Krieg would tell me where we were going." A silence is followed when she realises, "Krieg's orders? Great, even my own friend doesn't trust me." She says with disappointment. "You know, INC. I know I've lasted a whole year without Krieg but this time it's different, I don't know. I feel that he should be here."

"Observation: He is only doing what is best." the machine states.

Rhea smiles and sits on the hammock, "I guess you right. You rarely wrong are you?" she jokes before moving into a lying position, "Where did Krieg go?" another silence is heard and in response she looks over to INC, "Well?"

"Negative: Krieg's first location is unknown to me."

Rhea whispers to herself, "Why?"

"Krieg's orders were given to me, not his intent."

"So, he has given orders to respond to me being inquisitive? And this was his reason for the secrecy, so I would ask?"

"Reason: Krieg had one final lesson to teach you in the unfortunate event of not seeing him again, 'Ask the right questions' so that the answers are more revealing." INC states to her.

Rhea thinks to herself about that and whether or has she already learned this but thinks again to find that she hadn't realised is that she had been using it for years, "So, if I ask you the right the question, you'll answer?"

"Affirmative." The machine answers.

She sits up and bites her bottom lip thinking of the right question. She looks at INC with curiosity before asking, "What did Krieg do when he escaped three years ago?"

INC knows that she refers to the period in which Krieg escaped the Scythe and was missing while his clone was on the Citadel, "Information: Unknown."

"You don't know?" Rhea wanders.

"The information wasn't installed when Krieg built me. I have even asked Krieg the question myself and he hasn't answered." She raises an eyebrow in response and wanders why Krieg would keep such information private.

Ben is still on the floor and his identity card is no longer on his coat due to Bjorn stealing it in order to escape the ward. His hand slowly grips the floor a little before his eyes open to find himself in his current position. Turning onto his back he widens his eyes to the ceiling and gets his bearings before sitting and holding his head, confused and weary from his encounter. He quickly realises the situation and begins to feel his coat pockets in case the soldier took anything else apart from his ID card but that was the only piece he took. He turns to the door leading into Rhea's office opens and a nurse enters the room looking at the doctor in an odd way for he was still sitting on the floor.

"Doctor? Are you okay?" She asks watching him get up.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. Did you see where the soldier went?" He asks her.

"No, sir. He wasn't in bed either. We assumed he checked out."

Ben's eyes widen and realises that the soldier may have gone to get his armour at the guard quarters, "Alert the Guard-Captain, I don't know what this man is planning to do but he never checked out. He knocked me out and took my ID card." and begins to walk out and down corridor.

The nurse watches but asks a question before he leaves completely, "What's his name?"

"Magnusson I think!" He says before heading down the hallway of the ward and taking out an earpiece and pressing it, "Come on, Namia. Pick up." He says wondering what Rhea actually had to do this incident though he knows that she isn't all that she seems to be.

Rhea herself was still waiting at monorail station quietly with INC as the two prepare for the impending train to reach the platform. She hears the ringing tone coming from her utility belt and pulls out an earpiece. A small screen attached to it indicates who was calling her and she thinks her second to herself of whether to actually answer the call but sees it better to not as she needs to be as discreet as possible.

Other people surrounding the platform are ready to go to their destination as well and don't take notice to the only alien among them and her machine counterpart. The train arrives and she steps onto the platform taking the closest seat to the door and INC places itself next to her as there are no other people within this cart of the train.

Just as the doors are closing Bjorn is arriving at station and has made good time though he knows that a train departing means a possible escape and begins to approach the platform. Running down the ramps quickly he try his best to keep up with the slowly accelerating machine. His failure comes to fruition as he reaches the end of the platform and towards the valley below where he was during the investigation of Riley's death.

A look of disappointment and anger fills his face as he felt so close to finding her but his attention then takes him off-guard as he sees that while he stands at the edge of the platform, a figure has just leapt from the roof above and managed to grab the ledge of the final cart and pulls herself of onto the roof. Bjorn recognises the figure and immediately runs back from where he came and towards the top of the station.

The figure now showed a more revealing appearance as she was slender and unlike before in from Rhea's view, her armour was of sophisticated design. It was strange in it change colour depending on the surface she touched but the features on her shoulders showed a picture of the Reaper embossed while she wore a pad on her left shoulder, also camouflaged. Her mask however stayed the same colour across the face but the sturdier helmet parts around her chin and back of the head were camouflaged as she walks across the first cart and hops over, briefly reverting back to her generic black coloured suit for a brief second. She repeats this twice before reaching her destination which was the front cart.

Rhea herself is unaware of the person above her and is none-the-wiser when she hears the sound of broken class and the feeling of impact on the back of her head, being hurled to the other side of the cart. The figure used this method to enter but continued to swing and latch onto the ceiling. INC is quick to respond as it begins to fire in the figure's direction but even the machine's aim is no match for her reflexes as she rolls across the ceiling to the side of the cart leaps towards INC. When she takes a grip of the machine she uses her strength to hurl it out of the window she entered, leaving Rhea alone. Rhea was just regaining some form of consciousness from her recent blow as she rubs the back of her head and stares at the armoured female confused and curious though she knows that she is an enemy and pulls out her pistol to shoot.

Her first two shots are unsuccessful as the figure simple flips out of the way but the third clips the figure on the foot and the impact causes her to break her balance, going to one knee. Rhea then uses a biotic push to her advantage and her enemy is knocked against the far wall. This enemy doesn't give up however as she clings to the wall and leaps towards the asari and tackles her down, following with an array of hooks to her face. What she fails to see however is that Rhea still has her pistol in hand and struggles to get a clear shot of her chest. When she does fire a shot, the impact despite the shields the armour possesses cant deflect the power of the heat as the it makes a clean passage through the assassin's body and Rhea kicks her off to get a better stance.

"Who sent you?" she asks holding her weapon and ready to fire. The assassin just crawls on her back and tries to get away, "Who sent you?" she says before giving a warning shot next to her legs.

Bjorn is still standing on the landing platform on top of the station and is waiting as he watches the monorail carts go off into the distance. His focus is shifted soon enough when he hears the sound of a shuttle that is nearing the landing pad. He looks up at the Kodiak-like shuttle as it lands but soon enough the soldier enters via the opened door. He sits down along with some heavily armed marines and looks in front of him to see his superior, wearing a trademark officer's uniform.

He salutes, "Captain Fredrick, sir."

Fredrick looks at the N7 marine with disappointment, "Bjorn, I got a transmission through from the nearby settlement. Apparently four security staff had been knocked unconscious and a recent patient had escaped the ward."

"I can explain, sir."

"Go ahead, I would love the reason." says Fredrick crossing his arms.

He takes a few breaths, "We got to the destination, the drop went fine and both teams were doing well until…until our team entered the base. She knew we were coming; she took out all of my men and kicked me out of the window. I was lucky to be alive." He says stating that he doesn't know that his attacker is a completely different person altogether. "I saw her just. She is on the train towards the station. We can catch if-"

He is interrupted by the pilot, "Sir, we have a stray life sign detection coming from beneath the railway, the heat signature is off the charts."

Fredrick stands up, "Be prepared men, she may have done something ugly."

And with that the shuttle begins to descend down under the monorail and towards a small smoke signal which was black in colour though made a visual hard to detect. The shuttle lands about thirty yards away from the object in question and they are at least a hundred feet below the monorail its self.

When the doors open Bjorn is given a shotgun while the other marines exit the shuttle and begin hastily to approach the smoke. They enter a small fog and find cover behind rocks but some remained open on one knee though Bjorn takes the former option. Pointing his gun and waiting as the dust and smoke to clear but when it does they see what could be described a massacred piece of life. The assassin was defeated by Rhea but incidentally the whole of the marine unit believe this to be the asari in question.

The figure lay on her back and the armour had been badly damaged through some sort of explosion but her face was still covered. Some of the marines get close enough to see flesh on the assassin and they notice blue skin and blood of a darker colour seeping out of the wound. There was however a pulse and she could just about breathe. The three marines surrounding her raise their rifles, but fail to have another memory after that.

A strange blue sphere approaches the zone and impacts on the assassin followed by an explosion spreading a few dozen yards, chewing some of the rock that Bjorn hides behind. Not long after his hair is covered in dust and his face has black marks he crawls over to where his commanding officer lies. He pokes the Captain on his shoulder but there is no response. The N7 officer turns on his side towards where the body once lay and before losing consciousness once again. He sees only a silhouette of a turian who turns to reveal glowing eyes.

**2185- Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Nice story." comments Bailey who has been entertained by his former colleague while looking at the files, "Obviously she didn't die then, otherwise you wouldn't be here?"  
Bjorn sighs, "Yeah, I don't know how she survived but after that the Council proclaimed her dead through mysterious circumstances. They recorded her death as being a Spectre assignment to keep it all hush-hush, but now we're in power as well we can 're-establish' certain facts."

Bailey leans on his chair, "So who was that person in the armour?"

"An assassin who tried to kill her I believe though no records show her existence, or the armour I saw her wear. That technology was almost too advanced for any of us to develop. Rhea got away and she managed to keep low for a good while, but was still in the corner of the Council's eye. Spectre's were given a bounty for her but many deemed it impossible."

Bailey looks at his monitor and takes a better look at Rhea in the frozen image with Joker, "What does Intai'sei have to do with her."

"Well, according to this and both Ahern's and Anderson's official reports, Rhea was present during both these missions and incidentally a certain attacker was present. The attacker used similar weaponry and some of the descriptions are similar also. This turian-thing that was present during both mine and their missions seemed to be conveniently placed there; I think that now she is here, it might be here."

Bailey leans forward, "Are saying there is potential threat to the Citadel?"

"Yes. If Rhea is here, then there is a good chance that this thing is here too and it could repeat its actions."

"I'm calling Udina." Bailey says about to open a channel.

Bjorn quickly grabs his hand, "No, no diplomat can know about this."

The C-Sec officer raises his eyebrow, "What? They're lives at stake."

"That's why I need you to help find T'Anya. We want to put her in a nice secure place so we can draw it out, away from the Citadel."

Bailey realises the tension of his arm and Bjorn lets go, "Alright, but I don't like this. What do you need?"

Bjorn looks around before asking, "All the files on this murder case, not only that I also need access to your security footage."

He nods, "I hope you know what you're doing. The Executor will have my ass for this." He says as he look over to the holographic core of the console and scans it with his omni-tool, "You'll let me know when you find her? This is my investigation too."

The Alliance officer nods in response, "Sure." And takes the documents he showed to Bailey while he waits for the files to be uploaded to him.

Within Rhea's Safehouse at the furthest end of the Zakera ward the asari herself is lying in her bed thinking about the story she has told Joker so far. While at this time twenty-five years ago she was in the midst of something greater than her but personally she was just trying to find her friend…

**17/02/2160- Eden Prime Monorail, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster**

"Who sent you?" she asks holding her weapon and ready to fire. The assassin just crawls on her back and tries to get away, "Who sent you?" she says before giving a warning shot next to her legs.

Rhea was thinking of the exact moment where she was confronted by the assassin herself and the result of their encounter was one that could be considered lucky. INC had been thrown out of the railcar but its nature was to hover and in some extreme circumstance flying towards its destination as the drone is back on course. Accelerating at a swift pace it manages just to catch up with Rhea and enters the railcar with its turrets ready to fire.

Rhea herself was looking at the shoulder pad and sees the insignia of the reaper though she doesn't know of this yet. The assassin begins to move quickly again as she flips up and leaps towards the asari. The figure tackles her down once again but this time it would be her downfall. INC targets the figure and underneath its body a hidden turret opens and fires a single shot at the assassin. She stops and quickly feels her back and recognises what is attached but her focus is put off with the machine firing it small tentacles and drags her off Rhea who picks her pistol up and shoots her again twice in the stomach.

"Alert: Quickly, projectile her out of the window." INC orders and Rhea is happy to oblige.

She uses her biotics to lift the assassin now near death and quickly moves her hand to towards the window, sending the figure outward. When the assassin meets fresh air the beeping on her back becomes more rapid and within seconds detonates. The explosion is small and quiet but leaves a smoke trail as she falls down to the location where Bjorn, Fredrick and the marines would find her.

Rhea then quickly sits down to catch her breath after the encounter, "Was that the assassin?"

"Affirmative: Her pattern resembles that of the commandos we encountered on Intai'sei." The machine replies.

"The Scythe were planning to get rid of me, as you predicted."

"Affirmative…processing: I have found an odd file within her suits mainframe."

"What?"

"The order was to eliminate you before Emissary Krinal captures you."

Rhea thinks for a minute, "Wait, you mean the asari Scythe were after me and not Krinal?" this is followed by a silence, "Then each faction must have different motives. How did the assassin arrive?"

INC processing the question and scans the area, "Negative, no trace of Scythe technology is within a twenty mile radius."

Rhea leans back on the seat, "Then they must be working separately now, maybe each has a different set of goals revolving around us. Krinal always wanted to capture Krieg, but if that mercenary and that assassin have tried to kill us, then one doesn't know the other's goal. Could we use this to our advantage I wonder?" she asks herself though INC doesn't reply, "We're not going to your location."

"Question: Why?" 

"Because it's too obvious. If we head there then the Scythe will follow, both factions. If we investigate the asari Scythe, then we might just be out of Krinal's reach." Rhea states as she begins reloading her pistol.

"Question: Where is our destination then?"

"We're going to the Citadel, the heart of the Galaxy. There must agents from both factions we could look into." Rhea states as the railcar heads off into the distance unable to hear the sound of Sintarrio flying in his spike form and releasing an energy missile towards the clearing smoke of the area in which the assassin fell.

At this time the figure was surrounded by the marines and with the attack impacting the target it creates a mini-explosion while Sintarrio himself lands at the site itself to check if the Scythe assassin is dead. It turns towards Bjorn's direction before looking up and towards the monorail and the last glimpse of the railcars. The synthetic turian walks out of the smoke and begins patching a channel through back to Korlus, where Krinal resides in its lair.

On Korlus itself Krinal is awaiting the transmission from the underground and waits in its chamber. Towering above it is a hologram of Sovereign, now watching the machine's every move as the machine is looking at a holographic table of the where they can both see what looks like Tuchanka and the vorcha's they've created. Krinal itself is beginning to resemble some form of big brother, watching the landscape of which these Vorcha can roam free though most are in small bands.

"These husks are a success beyond my initial estimates. The upgrades I have planned will make the armies completion invincible." Krinal informs.

"Futile, when we return your army will have no purpose in the galaxy. We will relocate them to a world as contingency." Sovereign explains.

Krinal turns to the hologram, "What, I've spent a century trying to perfect this on various species, and now you saying you won't use them?"

"We are many, the need for foot-soldiers is not our top priority but they may come in useful for when we begin the cycle." The reaper states in its cold tone.

It disappears however with a hologram of Sinatrrio appears on the landscape, "Emissary, Rhea is on the move."

"Then why aren't you following her as ordered?" Krinal asks in a demanding tone.

Sintarrio looks over to what could the corpse of the assassin, "I also bring disturbing news, an assassin from the asari sect has attempted to take Rhea's life." The turian hears a brief silence, "Your order, Emissary?"

Krinal despite being a machine its movements show confusion, "They've ignored me. The Duchess herself must have ordered this assassination, probably in hopes of drawing Krieg out and claiming him for themselves." It turns to Sintarrio, "Did you get the identification of which chapter the assassin emerged from?"

Sintarrio nods, "Affirmative. She is apparently from the Illium Chapter."

Krinal thinks to itself, "Okay. Scout the chapter to find any information you can and if anything is connected relay it back directly to me." And severs the link to turn back to the image of Sovereign, "It's time we destroy this abomination of a cult."

"Agreed, your influence has been stretched to a point where it wanes. Begin preparations to the Armada within the Terminus Systems." The Reaper orders as the Krinal brings up a control panel and begins preparations.

Within an unknown region of space a batarian frigate is lying dominant along with five other ships of the same design. The ships were built with a strong hull with murky brown colour while the fin on the top stretched from the front to the rear. The exhaust engines made no noise and neither did the weaponry with cannons on both sides like a pirate ship would have.

Inside, the bridge was full of batarians wearing a range of many types of armour and armed with different weapons; however one of them stood out from the rest. This batarian had greenish complexion and armour to match though the heavy-set piece of equipment had taken its fair share of battle. He sits on a chair looking at the Mass Relay in front of him with a bored expression on his face. While he waits another of his kind walks up behind him, only this one's armour was more in line of Krinal's Acolytes, silver and black. The armour had extra padding on the left arm and he wore a visor covering his two right eyes while the top left one had a scar across it.

The captain of the ship turns to him, "What's happened Jotan?"

Jotan smiles as he looks towards the Mass Relay and watches it being activated, "It's time to move."

The Captain gets up as the other batarians watch from the windows and sees ships arriving from the relay itself, "I take it these are our new allies?"

The ships come in their dozens and range from fighters to a single dreadnaught that resembles a Scythe Drone and therefore a reaper only this is a kilometre long instead of twice the size. It also has a silver colour to it as the relay's glow reflects off it. Its weaponry consists of hundreds of AI turrets placed over the body with two huge cannon on both sides of the hull.

Jotan takes a small disk from a pouch and hands it to the Captain as he waits a few seconds and hologram of Sedath appears, "Sedath, this is strange timing."

"No, this is perfect timing. You recognise some of these ships, allies or not, you will work with them and obey the Emissary." the salarian states before the Captain looks at Jotan, "You will be given orders from the Zenith and from there you follow those orders, understand?"

The Captain looks up at the massive ship and sighs before nodding, "Yes, Sedath. What are your orders?"

"The Emissary has ordered the removal of an asari base on the Typhon system within the Pheonix Massing. The Armada will be responsible for this while the Zenith heads to Tuchanka. Captain, expect hostilities, but failure is not an option." Sedath states before disappearing.

And with that the giant ship begins to move and head back towards the Relay to follow its duty while the now hundreds of ships are preparing to fight the Scythe on behalf of Krinal.


	27. Hide and Seek: Part I

**Chapter XXVII: Hide and Seek: Part I **

**2185- Captain Bailey's office, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

The Captain waits for the last of the footage from his investigation to load onto his old friend's omni-tool. Magnusson stands there impatiently holding his briefcase tight as it has important files inside. A sound comes from the console signalling its upload is complete as the two of them shake hands and Bailey watches as Bjorn begins to walk out and within the crowd of the wards which are still full of life as the clocks there is no true sense of time.

The Alliance officer continues to walk through the crowd and passes aliens of many races on the way towards the 800 blocks of the ward, a predominantly alien sector. He makes a turn towards an elevator and enters with a few other people and the place begins to grow increasingly crowded. He waits just as long as everyone else as the door opens, though by fate he is the last to walk out of the elevator. With seconds to spare a shot is fire at the controls and the doors shuts within inches of his nose knowing he isn't the last person in this small space.

"Well, well, well. It's been a long time, Major." says a flagging voice as the human smirks.

"How long have you been following me?" asks Bjorn.

"Well, David Anderson didn't reveal much into your investigation and Captain Bailey is only just convinced to give you those visual records. So awhile to answer your question."

Bjorn turns around to reveal a face he hasn't seen in a long time. A turian who by his face is considerable older than his past self and his orange skin-tone has become lighter and is more crisp-looking while his left eye is covered with a blue visor. His armour is worn though sturdy and light but custom in design from what can be seen, light armour with an urban camouflage pattern. Covering most of this is a long grey coat reaching down to his ankles and wore it open to reveal his utility belt armed with a single pistol, an M-5 Phalanx. The pistol was in it holster on a strap going diagonally across his body, only the grip could be seen by the human.

"Brutagus, long time no see." Bjorn says revealing the turian's identity.

"Indeed, you know how to keep yourself public enough to find but difficult to get close. Your leave from Arcturus was an opportunity for me but you already known that, didn't you?" he says scratching his cheek.

"You know Rhea broke out, didn't you?"

"Of course, who didn't? And now you intend to capture her, no? Kill her? Is the brass really that desperate?" he asks.

Bjorn serious look turns to distain for the turian, "That's none of your business, turian. I suggest you let me out of this place."

Brutagus smiles, "Well, how about we trade? The case for life." he says.

Bjorn knows that he is serious and the turian will kill him if need be but decides it best to lend his case out towards the turian. The human waits for Brutagus to reach out and take the object from him but keeps his guard up and waits for precise moment to strike. As the turian grips a handle of the case Bjorn uses his free hand to grab the turian wrist. He then proceeds to release Brutagus from his body though old turian seem to be very athletic for his age as the Alliance officer's attempts to swing the case at him fail as he ducks and gets in a good right-hook to the ribs followed by an uppercut with the other hand. Bjorn isn't going to give up as he drops the case attempts a right-handed straight but Brutagus uses his left forearm to block and proceeds to use the same arm to wrap Bjorn's so he is trapped following this by to punch to stomach then to the face.

"You've tried this before Major, it doesn't work. I'm much more experienced than you will ever be." And with his free hand pulls out his pistol, "It's taken me nearly a quarter of century to reach this moment, finally we meet again. Do you remember the old times, when we first met?"…

**12/04/2160- Turian Embassy, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Bjorn sits on a chair and this time he is wearing his Alliance officer's uniform and is accompanied by a superior who wears the rank of Captain on her shoulders. This human was female, she was African decent and had her hair tied in a bun at the back of her head. By the look of her she was around mid-forties and by her manner, seemed to act superior to Bjorn who has a face boredom and distain for the room he is in right now. The turian embassy was no different to any other except most things on wall were written in strange symbols. It had a clear view of the presidium and along with other races and there was a trio of holographic terminals to show the Council if they needed to speak directly to the Ambassador.

The turian himself enters his main door and wears a dark grey suit with white trimmings while his skin colour is a lighter shade of the colour. He gives a reassuring smile, "Captain Johnson, a pleasure." He says putting his hand forward to her.

Bjorn watches as the human stands and shakes the Ambassador's hand and the two sit down, "Did you read the report?" she asks.

"I did, several times in fact." His head turns to Bjorn, "You were lucky, Lieutenant. Most people would have died in such a situation."

"I do my best to survive." He says in a harsh tone.

The turian notices though he doesn't flinch, "Quite, Captain this report is unique. When you gave it to me I immediately sent it to Council itself under recommendation due to a similar case not long ago. They informed me that they have someone from Special Tactics and Recon looking into it. He should be here shortly."

"What about Rhea T'Anya? She got away." Bjorn asks without permission from his superior.

The Ambassador looks at him, "T'Anya is…still a priority to us, she is responsible for the death of Tylirria and who knows who else." He then turns to Johnson, "We feel that maybe the Alliance should step aside on her. She becoming somewhat of distraction and fugitives in galaxy normally have many ways of evading us. The orders have been given to all governments and an open bounty to Spectres has been established, they'll take care of it." He sees his doors opening and in walks a younger Brutagus wearing his phantom armour and armoured only with a Spectre grade HWMP pistol on his hip, "Oristar, friend. Good to see you." He says bowing to the Spectre.

"Likewise Ambassador, I take it these are the humans you spoke of?" he says meeting eyes with Bjorn for the first time.

He nods, "Indeed, this is Captain Johnson and Lieutenant Magnusson."

Brutagus nods, "I saw the site of where you were attacked; I would like to speak with you privately later if possible?"

Bjorn gets a good look at the turian, "Sure." He says though is weary of the Spectre.

"I will send you his current residence." says the Ambassador, "If you excuse me, officers. I must speak with the Volus Ambassador now."

"Of course Ambassador, thank you for your time." says Johnson leaving the room with Bjorn himself. When they are outside the embassy they watch some volus enter before she speaks, "That went better that expected, I thought there was going to be a heated debate."

"I don't trust that Oristar-guy, he seems shady." Bjorn says with confidence.

"Spectres generally are. Just be careful what he asks you, okay?" and she gets a nod from the officer before leaving him on his own.

Within the 800 Blocks of the Zakera Ward, whatever drell live on the Citadel congregate in a club that is suited for their tastes. The bar is small and cosy where both male and female members of the species act as themselves. Even in the presence of the hanar are also welcome within the owner's sanctum.

The owner was Iochus who was briefly involved in the investigation of K-Thousand three years prior. The exposure hasn't affected his business known on the Citadel as the drells only real gangster. He sits in the corner with two follow members of his species and by their age and dress tells who is who. The one on the edge of the circular couch is clad in medium Duellist armour made from Elaunus Risk Control and has a pistol of the same make on his hip while the other is more finely tailored with a suit of drell fashioning's. On a cylinder cushioned seat happens to be a hanar who is also conversing with the three drell.

"So Norim, is the shipment ready to go?" Iochus asks his armoured kin.

Norim nods, "Thanks to Ilicanar here, we managed to get enough of the stuff to make a big deal."

Iochus looks at the hanar, "And this stuff is profitable?"

Ilicanar speaks, "This one has good authority to know that merchandise is very profitable."

The well-dressed drell leans to Iochus, "I'm still not sure. This deal we're doing with the krogan is too risky. We know nothing about them except that the representative had marks on his face, like he's tribal."  
"It's a krogan-thing Ferrul. Take no notice." Iochus says while looking over towards the entrance of the club.

Entering the club is the most undesirable drell in a galaxy, even his name is an insult to their species. The drell wore his armless yellow armour and had a sniper rifle on his back accompanied by two pistols on his hips. As he walked the other drell backed off as they have seen him through various media and know his reputation.

It was Tido, who had since taken up smoking cigarettes due to liking the taste and continued as he walks to the bar and raises his hand to order a drink. Norim pulls a face of disgust while the other drell gulps his drink in one and turns to let out some smoke. Tido leans onto the counter and looks at some females who were without their respective partners, eyeing them. To males he was hated, but notoriously attractive to women because of his nature.

One drell in a suit notices him eyeing them and takes offence and approaches Tido, "Hey shitstain, stop looking at my wife." He says and catching the attention of many patrons.

Tido continues to lean as his tilts his head the other's direction and smiles, "You wife, whichever one it maybe will be coming home with me tonight." He says insulting the patron in a subtle tone.

The patron gets in his face, "You better get out of here or me and my friends, the other husbands will kill you."

Tido laughs, "Oh I get it. You're gangsters." He says before blowing some smoke into his face, "You know, I always like to fight gangsters, they're clumsy. They make me look even better when I fuck your wife so hard she'll be so disappointed when you come with sloppy seconds." And with that final insult the patron attacks attempting to use drell hand-to-hand combat on Tido. He starts with grabbing Tido wrist and attempting to pull it down so the rest of Tido's body will follow. Tido however uses to momentum to place his foot out and trip the other drell to the floor before wrapping up the arm in submission hold, applying slight pressure, "Clumsy technique, I had a turian do similar things. Mind you, their arms are easier to break." He smiles when he sees the patron in pain.

Norim is about to step up and help him but Iochus quickly passes him and approaches, "Five minutes and your already trouble."

Tido looks up, "You wouldn't have hired me otherwise." and lets the person go back to his friends. Tido shakes Iochus' hand, "You know the last thing I heard about you was that you sent a C-Sec officer in my general direction."

"I was only doing my part for the community." He says offering Tido a seat at their table. When both Iochus and Tido sit down he speaks again, "You know Ferrul and Norim. This however, is my superior. Meet Ilicanar."

"It finds the object in your hand to be quite disturbing." the hanar states referring to Tido lighting another cigarette.

Tido lets out some smoke to everyone's disgust, "I don't care. If I wanted to be a slave to the hanar I'd be one of you guys."

Norim stands upset insulted, "The hanar did us a service."

"What? Taking us from our dead world to be enslaved? No, no, no. That doesn't sound right at all. And look, you're still enslaved, only for a criminal with a speech problem."

"This one speaks-"

"Cut the crap! You called, I came. What's the job?" Tido asks while taking another inhale of his cigarette and leaning back.

Norim sits down before Iochus continues, "We have a deal going down here on the Citadel but our business partners are suspicious. They're krogan and bare marking on their faces. Do you know of this?"

Tido laughs, "In fact I do. Get this; I saw one of those krogan kill five Bloodpack without having to move from his position. They're tough guys and they don't make deals often."

"Explain?" Ferrul asks.

The smoking drell continues, "Well. I was on Lorek, that batarian colony having to spot a deal going down by local slave-traders and these krogan. They wanted me to take them down but not kill them as the guy wanted these to enslave them. Anyway, I'm there with my rifle and through the lens watch the deal. They had their own spotter filling in on the details as the deal went down. The spotter didn't even shoot, as soon as the batarian opened the crate; he met a shotgun shell and was killed. The other krogan tore apart the rest."

"So they can't be trusted?" Ferrul implies.

"Not if double-cross them. If they know something's wrong, they'll act. So don't get ambitious."

"We would like you to come with us during this deal. I have feeling we're going to need extra firepower." Iochus says.

Norim looks at his superior, "My men can deal with this."

Iochus looks at him, "If Tido's right, then we'll need him. His experience might prove valuable."

Norim looks at Tido smiling and sighs, "Fine."

The mercenary slaps the table, "Alright, whens the deal?"

"Two days. Meet us on level 27 then…how much you want?" Iochus asks.

"Mm…I'll tell you what; I'll do this for free with one condition." He pauses as the other drell and hanar wait, "Okay, I want a night in the Consort chambers. I know you can get me in."

Iochus is surprised with a reasonable Tido, "Sure" and stands to shake his hand.

Within the presidium area of the Citadel the artificial light has been dimmed and it's officially night-time on the station. Bjorn himself however is within the confines of the Consorts Chambers where people go to spend their credits for pleasure of many kinds. The human himself is very old fashioned though is open to who he shares his passion with as the human stands on his feet while he thrust himself in an asari on all fours on the bed. With the past few weeks of stress he has been waiting for this for a long time as his frustrations are taking out through his aggression while his rented alien takes it though she seems to enjoy more than he does. He lets out a groan when he has ejaculated and puts his hands on the bed, leaning over the asari.

"Is that all?" she says. Bjorn gives disgruntled look and reacts by pushing her lightly on her front which she covers herself with a bed sheet, "Are you okay?"

Bjorn sits on the end of the bed, "Yeah, just stressed." He replies as he buries his face in his hands out of exhaustion.

The asari sees him and offers comfort wrapping her arms around his stomach and kissing his shoulder lightly, "I'm here to listen as well as fuck, you know?"

Bjorn lifts his head up and allows her to peck his neck, "I know, but fucking is more fun." The warm feeling makes him close his eyes and he climbs onto the bed to get comfortable, "How can you make a living like this?"

The asari looks at him in confusion, "What do you mean, this is my job?"

He knows this but in human terms its illegal, "Sorry, just a culture-clash that's all."

She climbs and puts an arm over his chest, "Why? Do women do this in human space?"

Bjorn smiles, "Well if they do, it's normally kept quiet. Many humans would see what you do as prostitution, not 'healing'."

The asari reaction is through her face though doesn't physically act, "Oh, now I get it. To a human, I'm a whore." She sits up and thinks to herself, "I didn't always do this you know, I just wanted to get away from my family. They were into some really deep-shit and I wanted nothing to do with it." She turns to she Bjorn staring at her, "Sorry, I'm meant to be listening to you."

He smiles at her and reaches to stroke her cheek, "Don't worry about it. Listen, I'm going to be here for a few more days. Do you want to do something?"

She smiles and pecks his hand, "You're cute, but I don't do dates." She says before laying again her arm over him.

The next day Brutagus himself is within the Zakera ward of the Citadel in the café on level 28, not far from the Dark Star and centre of events in the present day. The Spectre is reading a holographic piece of material in a turian language and has a glass of blue liquid gripped in his left hand. It was awhile since he was here for a purpose as he once eavesdropped on a conversation between Rhea and Rhodius but in general he likes this little spot within the huge space station.

He takes a sip of his drink and continues his reading while another turian enters the café and looks around. It was Saren, now twenty years old and a Spectre like Brutagus. The younger member of the species sees the elder and approaches him. Brutagus looks up and sees a hand reaching out as he shakes it.

"Oristar, how are you?" He asks.

"Good, Saren. I here you've been busy this past year?" he mentions signalling his reputation that would make him the most valuable agent in the future.

Saren nods, "Well the Council has given me work, I take the job." He replies as he watches Brutagus close the hologram, "You called me about something important?"

Brutagus nods, "Yes, I'm currently looking into some old cases and there is a name that popped up. Someone called Rhea T'Anya."

Saren remembers the name as she was romantic with Thalian, "What she doing on Spectre records?"

"She involved in an incident while you were on Shanxi. I believe she was romantically linked to your brother, Thalian is it?"

Saren remembers the loss on the human colony, "Well yeah, I mean Thalian wasn't my real brother."

Brutagus raises an eyebrow, "Oh, I though you brother died three years ago?"

"No, that was my full brother." Saren says with regret, "Thalian was my brother, but in a different way."

"In what way? If you don't mind me asking?"

Saren is uncomfortable, "No, it's okay. Thalian was my cousin technically but his parents were killed at a young age and my father, his closest blood relation adopted him into the family, becoming a brother of sorts. I looked up to him like I did real brother, though he was more interested in other things."

"Okay, well that clears that up. Seems you lost more to humanity than originally hoped?" Brutagus mentions.

Saren nods with distain, "Yeah. Why is Rhea T'Anya of interest?"

Brutagus looks around and leans in, "The incident on the Citadel, the one that killed another Spectre, she was connected and I interviewed her once and that was it, I never saw her again. She was still needed for questioning when she mysteriously disappeared, only to be found on Intai'sei a year later."

"Wait a minute; she's the person who killed Tylirria?" Saren says in disbelief knowing the connection, "Why?"

"I'm not sure. It seems to out of place but her bounty has been dispatched to all Spectres, the Council wants her brought back." He informs, "She hasn't visited her mother, Vessana. And according to the Alliance she was using a false identity on Eden Prime, she's resourceful. Listen, whatever files Thalian has been passed on to the next of kin which is you I surpose, I 'm asking you to send me copy. I want to know anything I can about her before Council does something they may regret."

Saren thinks for second but knows Brutagus good intentions, "Sure, I send you them ASAP. This makes no real sense."

They both stand up and shake hands, "Thanks Saren, good luck with future missions." He says before seeing that his next appointment is walking through the door. Bjorn is looking around and sees the two turians and approaches them, "Ah, Lieutenant Magnusson. Welcome."

Bjorn sees his offer of a handshake and takes it, "Yeah, sure. We're formal now are we?"

Brutagus laughs while his fellow turian remains quite, "Of course not. This is Saren, one of the Spectre agents."

Bjorn looks at the turian and goes to shake his hand. Saren takes it and firm grips the hand of the human, "Pleasure." He says before nodding and leaving the café itself wiping his hand on the wall as he walks out without Bjorn noticing.

Brutagus watches the human sit down, "I'm surprised that you up so early. How was your visit to the Consort Chambers?"

Bjorn is taken aback with this as it was a private appointment, "How did you know about that?"

"My job since you've arrived was to keep tabs on you just in case anything happened, Council procedure." Brutagus informs as he opens his omni-tool, "Don't worry, most of my records are classified."

Bjorn crosses his arms in discomfort, "Cut the bullshit. What do you want?" he says before a transmission comes in and the human accesses his omni-tool to an image that was familiar. His eyes widen as it is an image of Sintarrio's silhouette on what seems to be Intai'sei's desert.

Brutagus watches his reaction, "Familiar? It was taken two years ago from what was left of a turian field jeep. You claimed that someone attacked the body of Rhea, stopping you from claiming it for evidence." He watches Bjorn staring at the picture still, "I just wanted to check that's what you saw." He says getting up and ready to leave after a few sentences.

The turian is walking past when Bjorn gets up and grabs his arm, "Where did you get that picture?"

Brutagus smiles, "That's classified." He says before leaving the café and leaving the human alone confused about the altercation that just happened.

The Spectre himself is pacing through the wards and heading towards the parking lot and opens the door to his air-car. He enters and activates the controls and lifting the car up and heading onto the freeway, taking an opportunity to cut into a lane. He looks towards the right side of the car at the nebula that is covering the Citadel. Bjorn however, didn't manage to catch Brutagus in time and is now opposite on Level 28 of Zakera Ward with no clue of what had just happened between the two.

The human looks around to see where the nearest elevator is so that he can head back to his accommodation on the presidium. While he is walking he doesn't realise that he is being watched by an asari in the crowd, leaning on the wall. The asari wears the bottom half of black armour but on her torso she wears a tank-top with a zip in the same colour. The zip is only undone a little so that people can see her cleavage but otherwise half her face is covered by a visor on her right side. On her arms she wears fingerless gloves and elbow pads and has a utility belt with a submachine gun in the holster.

It is in fact the very same asari that Bjorn had slept with inside the Consort Chambers and from her appearance she does more than just service herself to customers. She watches Bjorn walk towards the elevator but she doesn't follow and she gets into a secluded spot to start a private conversation. "Captain Chavai, Bjorn and Brutagus have left the meeting?"

"What did you find, Agent Cardi?"

"From what I was listening to, it seemed that the Spectre showed pictures from Intai'sei. I feel I can say that it was Sintarrio that attacked the Alliance troops and killed our assassin."

"Shit, Sintarrio must have traced her back to her chapter on Illium or worse."

"I thought it was on behalf of the Grand Duchess herself?"

"It was, and that's the problem. Krinal knows we've attempted to take out Rhea to prevent him from exploiting her. This is bad. Are you able to find Bjorn again?"

Cardi looks at the elevator, "I know where he's staying."

"Then visit him. I wouldn't ask you to do this but we need that human to tell us any information he can. If push comes to shove, let him fuck you and we'll take it from there."

"Yes, Captain." She says switching the communicator off and pulling a face of grief.

Brutagus is still on the freeway and is about to make another turn into a parking lot found near a balcony wear more retail markets are found. He makes a parallel park in-between two air-cars and immediately gets out shutting the door behind him and looks forward to what could be called and entrance to a casino.

There was a long cue of many different races waiting outside and were being watched carefully by the bouncer and the C-Sec officers across the way expecting trouble. The Spectre, giving his status uses it to cut through and the bouncer acknowledges him. He enters the hallway into the main complex. The wide room was huge in comparison and filled with many of the Citadel's most respected people, as well as those who should be feared. Iochus was there with Ferrul as they were gambling with others but Brutagus didn't care for the criminals as he just walks past them.

The spectre heads towards the back and sees a door and pulls out a card to swipe allowing him entrance as he again walks down more hallways. His walk ends with heading down some steps and into an office and by the people inside he is expected. Sitting behind the desk is a purple asari wearing a black and grey dress and standing on her left side is a blue asari wearing a long purple dress. A salarian was also present on her right wearing a blue suit.

Brutagus puts his case on the table, "Yentha, he confirmed it. It was the machine."

The alien leans back, "I see, then it is as I suspected." she look toward her company, "Live us." And they obey. As soon as the door shuts she continues, "This isn't good. You've heard of the bombing on Illium?"

"Yeah, I did. It was similar attack." Brutagus states.

"Indeed, but that's the least of our troubles." she sighs heavily, "Their here."

Brutagus stands up straight, "The Scythe?"

Yentha nods, "Yes. I found out that an asari is undercover in Sha'ira's domain. I need you to find out who it is."

"And what if Sha'ira doesn't tell?"

"Kill her. We must find out who it is?" the ruthless asari states, "Remember, we're Spectres and we do what's best for the galaxy."

"Don't worry, I understand better than ever now." Brutagus says, "Have you managed to locate Rhea T'Anya yet?"

"No, she's even more elusive. I've collected images and that's it. That machine that follows her protects her from exposure and resembles one the drones that Krinal has on its side." She states having knowledge of the machine.

"Do you think she is in league with him?"

"No, what happened on Intai'sei was in order to capture her. The asari Scythe I believe see this obsession of Krinal's as a waste of time and are trying to eliminate her so it can continue working alongside them. But it's too late, they've held together this long but I don't see how Krinal will stand for this. It could lead to a Civil War between the Disciples and Acolytes. If you reach this agent in time, bring her here and we'll get information from her." She orders and Brutagus nods in agreement and heads back from where he came.

Cardi however is too far ahead for the Spectre as she is on the presidium following the human back to his current apartment within the complex that Vessana and Rhea once lived a few years before. The damage that was caused by the K-Thousand project along with a team of Tido, Chek and Yanlo has been cleared by either sanitary staff or the keepers and looks exactly the way it did. She continues heading towards the apartment complex and enters the elevator to take her only to the first floor. When she exits she stands in a long hallway and looks at each door to find which one is Bjorn's.

Inside his quarters Bjorn is making himself something to eat as he has a frying pan on the stove and on it is one egg and some sausages. He also has some bread on the side spread with butter and intends to make a sandwich with these ingredients. The human is topless and is only wearing his Alliance issued pants but is also wearing his boots as well. The screen near his bed is switched on some channel that is in an unknown language and he looks at it every so often though his initial interest is on his food. The sound of the doorbell goes off as Cardi herself has reached the door she intended to though her ulterior motives are unknown to him.

He walks to the door and press the button to open it and sees Cardi standing there without her visor on, "Cardi? What are you doing here?"

"I checked with the Consort. She told me where you were staying." She says letting herself in and looking around before turning to him, "I decided to take you up on your offer."

"What, going out for something to eat?" Bjorn asks, "I'm making dinner right now."

"That's okay. I was thinking about skipping that part." She says suggesting what she really wants. She takes a seat on his bed, "Come on. Sit down."

Bjorn doesn't know what to think of this but does as she says and sits to her left, "What made you changed your mind?"

She smiles, "Well, I kind of wanted to see you again actually. You weren't gentle but I like that." She says putting a hand on his thigh and rubbing gently.

Bjorn reacts to this by letting her lean in a kiss him though she surprises him by climbing on top and pushing him on his back. He watches as she unzips her top slowly and with her other hand while messaging his sensitive part. Bjorn reaches and as she reveals her right breast and begins cupping her. Letting out a moan she leans in and kisses him again; only this is much longer and deep. He stays on his back while she slips off him and kneels on the floor beginning to unzip his pants. He looks up and at her smile at him before all he can feel is warmth on his member.

While Cardi is with Bjorn, Brutagus is just entering the Consort Chambers on the presidium and walks straight past the greeter catching her attention though this is none of his concern. He walks past the lounge where many aliens, mostly male are enjoying the company of their appointments. Brutagus ignores them as he heads up the stairs and down the small hallway to Sha'ira's room, which is currently closed. He presses the button to open the door but it is locked from the inside, much to the turian's annoyance as he needs to find the Consort to get the information he seeks.

The greeter runs to him, "Mister Brutagus, you can't go in there without the Consort's permission and you have no appointment."

Brutagus is impatient and pulls his pistol, "Open the door, now!"

The asari is shocked and immediately complies with the turian who waits as the young asari enters the code to unlock the door. When it opens she feels the barrel digging into her back as he pushes her into the room where Sha'ira herself is sitting at her desk. The asari is only wearing a pink robe and as a glass of brandy in her hand when she turns to the doorway and sees her greeter being held hostage by the Spectre.

She is unfazed however and stands up, "Oristar, this is unexpected." She says as she puts her brandy down.

Brutagus keeps hold of the greeter while speaking, "I need information?"

"Okay. Will you let my assistant go first?" She asks. Brutagus complies with her and she sits back down while the turian approaches her, "What do you want to know? Normally I don't tell private thoughts about other people to Spectre's."

"Not about the people you fuck, your 'helpers'." He says in a harsh tone.

"Oh." She says with interest as the situation seems new to her as well, "Something's troubling you. I sense you are heading down a dark path, with no escape."

"Shut the fuck up! One of your asari is a spy and I need to know who it is." He states catching the Consort off guard.

She raises her eyebrow at the idea, "A spy…strange. I don't have spies Oristar. If you want that information, go to the Shadow Broker."

Brutagus doesn't like the wit of the asari and points his gun to her, "I want a list of all your members and their most recent appointments."

She sees the gun though doesn't act hysterically but complies and opens her console to reveal the database he seeks. "There you go. All of my staff and their customers, starting with the most recent."

All the names are anonymous but their clients aren't as he looks through the recent clientele and see Bjorn's name among them, "Who's that one?"

She leans and looks over herself, "Cardi, she been here for years. She's one of my best." She sees Brutagus' focus on this specific person and grows concerned, "Why? Is there something wrong?"

He scans his omni-tool over the console and uploads the information, "I think so, start looking for a replacement."

"Is she under arrest?" she asks following him.

"If she doesn't resist." Brutagus says before heading out of the room and back down to the main entrance. Sha'ira follows the turian though isn't fast enough to catch up to him as by the time she walks outside his aircar is taking off towards Bjorn's location.

The greeter follows her outside and looks with her, "Shall I call C-Sec?"

"No, it won't change anything I'm afraid. Let's get back inside." She finishes as she leads the other asari back into the chambers to carry on as normal though both of them have seen enough commotion for this day.

Tido sits within a small apartment in the wards though the location is only known to a few as the drell likes to keep under the radar as much as possible. The drell is sitting at a desk smoking and dropping the ash on the table while he watches the current news reports on the extranet. One story in particular involved an attack on a small location on Illium, signifying to those who know that Sinatrrio's attack was successful as fire crew of asari are putting out the fire with their technology.

The drell pays no attention to this and continues his smoking, breathing out the mist and leaning back on the chair. The object his is actually listening to is music played from the console as the drell relaxes to the sound of a soprano. His armour is hung up in a wardrobe built into the wall with his weapons as well. Tido is only wearing the under layer of his armour, a black rubber tank top and pants.

He hears the sound of the door being buzzed and he pressing a button on his console cautiously, "Hello?"

"It's Norim, let me in." the other drell demands as Tido gets up and presses the door panel. Norim enters and looks at him, "You're a hard man to find."

Tido laughs, "Don't want a C-Sec officer knocking on my door."

Norim turns around, "Listen here, Tido. You know I don't like you, I don't trust either."

"So what's new? Every drell I meet says the same thing." He replies and takes a smoke, "You know I did you a favour by not telling Iochus about your little side operation before you shut it down. He would've killed you if my tongue slipped."

Norim pulls a face of guilt signalling truth in Tido's words, "I needed the credits."

"Of course, doesn't everyone. A slave's life is a well-paid job."

Norim pulls his pistol out and ready's himself to fire though Tido is unfazed, "I'm not a slave!"

"I see." Tido says as Norim begins to shake, "What's the matter? Can't bring yourself to kill the scum of your race?" Tido thinks back to what possibly drive Norim to this situation, "Tell me, how's Harika?"

"Better without you." He replies gripping the pistol tighter.

"You found out didn't you?"

Norim nods, "My sister will be better off with you dead, so she doesn't have to tell her son who her father really is."

Tido smirks like he didn't know, "She was my Siha you know? I loved her but you and your family couldn't accept me despite that." Tido begins to walk around Norim though the other drell has his pistol still pointing, "Are mad because she loved me or are mad because she still does?"

Tido has his back to Norim and goes on his knees to Norim's confusion, "You'd let me kill you?"

"I know you won't pull that trigger. It was circumstance that made me into this you know. Give me to Kalahira if you must, my saint will welcome me in afterlife."

"Didn't have you down for a religious sort, Tido?" Norim says.

"I've always believed…I just don't pray enough." Tido says smiling before he hears the sound Norim lowering his weapon and pacing it back in the holster, "I guess I live another day." He says taking another smoke of his cigarette.

"You'll get it someday though, I guarantee it." Norim doesn't say anything else and just exits the room.

Outside he is confused in that Tido seemed to want to die but won't take his own life and the drell himself remains in a kneeling position and thinks to himself about what is happening to him. He decides to shake it off thinking it is just one of Tido's mind games but he is still cautious of his fellow drell.

Brutagus has finally reached the apartment complex where he looks up to the first floor where Bjorn's room is and immediately goes for the stairs thinking it will be quicker. Within half a minute he is on the first floor and pulls out his pistol encase he is met with fire and slowly walks to the door of which Bjorn is inside. He places himself against the wall and has his hand on the keypad ready to open the door.

The Spectre sighs before pressing the keypad and uncovering himself with his pistol pointed forward but all he hears is silence. He enters the room lightly and looks around seeing the only thing moving is the sizzling on the frying pan, which Bjorn forgot to turn off. Brutagus does this for him but doesn't touch the food as he looks around to find the only trace of them was that the bed had been used as the human and Cardi slept together.

He presses the button on his visor and opens a channel, "Yentha?"

"I'm here, Brutagus. Have you found them?"

"I tracked the asari we're looking for; apparently her last client was Bjorn Magnesson. He was the human involved at Eden Prime. I'm in his accommodation right now but there is no sign of him, just some food overcooked and a bed sheet that's untidy." He says while heading towards the bathroom.

"Maybe she's taken him already?"

"I don't think so." He replies after he has opened the bathroom door and sees that someone was still in the apartment. It was Cardi lying on the floor with a towel covering her torso and bullet hole through her forehead. Brutagus looks away at first and towards the window, "The spy is dead, someone one took her out and must of taken Bjorn with them. I don't think he could murder her."

"Wait a minute. I'm checking a recent report from C-Sec. It says that they've had a recent problem with their private files and that something is hacking into the system, downloading data at a fast rate." She says while he turns back and approaches the asari.

He begins undoing the utility belt she's wearing, "That's impossible isn't it?"

"Doesn't look like it. The last thing to be entered was the Consort's clientele lists and the personal information of each client."

As soon as the turian stands he realises what's happened, "Wait, you don't think?"

"I do. Inform C-Sec about the body then come to mine, we need to discuss our next plan of action." She says as Brutagus cuts the channel and begins making the suitable arrangements.

A day later and Tido is waiting inside a limousine air-car sitting with his back against the rear while opposite him are Ferrul, Norim and next to him is another armour drell wearing full armour and armed with a rifle for extra protection. While on the freeway they are being followed by another car which is also housing some of Norim's men, ready to protect the group if anything happens.

Tido's sniper rifle is on his lap as he is tweaking with it so that it's in the best shape though he knows that he is being watched by the other member of the group, namely Norim. As the group head off the freeway they head near to a more inhospitable part of the Citadel, near the outskirts where there is nothing but warehouses and the population is thin.

The group land in a small parking lot where they see their current business partners waiting to make the exchange. These krogan came in a small shuttle that resembles a truck though the inside there are seats instead of room for storage. The krogan wore a custom set of armour consisting of sleeveless black and bronze armour that resembles colossus armour. Another feature that drell were informed about was that fact that all these Krogan had tribal-like tattoos on their faces, each pattern different from the next and not mention their leader.

This krogan's armour had a silver tint however and resembles the armour that would be produced by the Geth Armoury. The parts that would usually glow are instead jet black but with his helmet off this krogan also had something in common with Tido in that he has come into contact with Rhea before only it had five years since their brief meeting. This krogan was Agon, who would be responsible for the death of the Bloodpack leader on Omega and helped Krieg free Rhea.

Since he is long living he hasn't changed at all and watches as the drell land and get out of the air-cars, "You took long enough, we haven't got too long." Norim, paranoid of what Tido said about these Krogan looks around for the possibility of a spotter while Tido lights a cigarette in response to the situation. "Okay, do you have our merchandise?"

"Do you have ours?" Ferrul asks. Agon turns and looks at the crate giving Ferrul an open invitation to open and check what's inside. The drell walks over hesitantly as Tido's story of the krogan with a shotgun got to him too and he turns to his cohorts, Norim who anxious and Tido who doesn't care much. He breaths in before opening the crate and while thinking the end is nigh for him but his eyes widen to find that what they wanted was in there. He looks and sees that the krogan were loyal to their part of the deal having the weapons within the crate and no gunmen to welcome the drell. Ferrul smiles and closes it, "Excellent." He says as the drell begin moving the crates and storing it into one of the cars, "It was a pleasure doing business with you. These weapons will make a fortune on the market."

"So they should, their made by the finest." Agon looks around at the other drell as they are all nervous in the presence of these strange looking krogan. "You boys look uneasy. Are sure this was the right deal to make?"

Ferrul has a look at all his men though understands their concern, "I'm sure, our friend has told us numerous stories about how you work." the drell says as Tido leans on the car, "He told us what he's heard about you."

Agon gets a look at Tido and turns to Ferrul, "So he should." He says before turning around and heading back to his transport.

As the drell watch the korgan drive away in their air-cars, the group are just about ready to leave themselves and Ferrul is happy that it was a success while Norim is acting very differently. Tido continues smoking though his eyes are on Norim as the drell is fumbling with the trunk as Ferrul approaches him.

"We're going to make a lot credits on this my friend." Ferrul says though the sudden turn of Norim holding a pistol catches him off-guard, "Nor-."

"I'm sorry." He says before pulling the trigger and shooting his friend in the gut. Norim then turns to Tido, the only other member of the group that isn't linked to Norim and fires in his direction.

Tido is successful in running towards a group of crates and diving behind them so he can pull out his pistol and meets the gang with a few bullets. The mercenary is more experienced than the others and picks off two gang members with two shots.

This causes Norim to enter the front seat of the car and call his men back so they can leave Tido on his own. "Come on you bastards! We need to get out of here!" and with the last thug in the air-car Norim's car escapes the scene though the driving is frantic.

Tido looks out from the crates and watches the car fly back onto the freeway but then his attention focuses on Ferrul leaning against his air-car with little life left in him as he coughs blood but Tido holds him up, "I knew this would happen."

Ferrul smirks as he puts his hand on Tido's shoulder, "Norim…he was just too paranoid…but I don't…know his intentions."

"Ambition is dangerous for middle-men. He wants to be on the top."

"That…makes sense. He...will most like blame my death on you, so he rises above the ranks and gains Illicanar's favour, along with Iochus." Ferrul reveals an understanding of criminal politics, "Take my credit chit, use what resources you can to kill him. It may not bring you...back into Iochus' favour, but you will be doing me a service."

Tido smiles, "I wasn't the one for loyalty, but I don't like being double-crossed."

"He…was my friend…I deserved a better death…Please…Tido…perform my last rites so that I may be at peace."

"I will." Tido says helping Ferrul onto the ground and laying him on his back. He goes on his knees and begins to pray, "Kalahira, may you pass this being across the waves to a place where he can find peace. Make his journey a pleasant one and give him the comfort of knowing his life will be avenged." He says as the drell closes his eyes and passes away peacefully. Tido reaches for his coat pocket and take a chit from Ferrul knowing that this is his payment for avenging his death as he examines it.

It has been a whole day for Bjorn, who is sitting on a chair alone in a dark room though the location is on the Citadel. The exact place however is unknown to him as his eyes are just opening and he looks up towards the blue light hanging above him. He feels cold and the only form of clothing he has on is his underwear and is confused by his current situation.

Weary from his recent activities and not having a memory of what happened, he realises that he is tied up and his hands are around the back of the chair while his feet and cuffed by the ankles and are magnetically wiled to the floor. He groans before seeing something in the distance, three glowing eyes as drone approaches him and reveals itself not to be a Scythe drone but INC. Following the machine is the sound of footsteps and from the shadows as coming into his view is Rhea herself.

The asari is now donning yet another new look as she holds a pistol of Spectre-class manufacturing though how she got such a weapon is unknown. The armour she wears is variant of light colossus armour only with the red undercoating is black and the plates in dark blue. The shoulder pads are also customised with the left shoulder more heavily built than the other and in the same fashion on the right knee-padding. Her boots were heeled unlike regular armour and her helmet she carries under her free arm is more of a recon-hood. The hood is shaped for an asari but with blue lenses.

"Hello Mister Magnusson, ready to talk?"


	28. Hide and Seek: Part II

**Chapter XXVIII: Hide and Seek: Part II**

**15/04/2160- C-Sec Academy, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"This is an outrage! How can you allow this to happen to one of my officers?" shouts Captain Johnson as she is leaning over the desk of a busy Vaneri Pallin. The turian is in official C-Sec armour and his visitor is wearing her traditional officer's uniform. "C-Sec is meant to prevent this from happening, now Lieutenant Magnusson is missing and a dead asari is in his room!"

"Calm down, Captain. Your officer hasn't been formally charged but with a dead girl in his room and him miraculously disappearing brings up suspicion and quiet rightly." The turian states surrounded with various paperwork on his desk. "If you want answers in full, I suggest you talk to the Spectre who found the asari."

"I will not stand for this; you cannot just put this under the pile. I want my man back!"

"Making demands won't get you anywhere Captain; you don't even have an embassy on Citadel to form your complaint. However I will inform the Executor of you plea. I'm sure this will be dealt within a few hours." Pallin explains though his mind is on other thoughts, "If you want to talk with the Spectre, I suggest you pay a visit to the Turian Ambassador in his office."

"I will, and I will share my concern." Johnson says looking at him with disgust.

Pallin nods, "I'll let him know you're on the way." And watches the human walks out just as a salarian officer is about to enter the office with another file, "Humans, so…demanding." He looks up to the salarian, "Officer Garahie, how can I help?"

Garahie nods and brings in the file, "I brought the file of the death of the drell in the outer wards you requested."

"Thank you." He says opening the file and recognising the drell's image and his eyes widen, "Ferrul? I didn't realise he was the one who got shot."

"Yeah, we've questioned Iochus and various members of the syndicate, guess who they are pointing to?"

Pallin looks further down and sees a name that hasn't been mentioned for a few years, "Well, well, well. Tido's back."

Garahie nods and takes a seat, "Yes, apparently he ambushed them and Ferrul got caught in the crossfire, according to Norim and his men. I don't see how we are going to catch him though?"

"Tido normally appears when you least suspect it, believe me I know." He says alluding to what happened during his investigation into K-Thousand. "Garahie, increase the amount of undercover patrols in the 800 blocks. If Tido did kill Ferrul, then he'll most likely going for Norim and Iochus as well to cover his tracks."

"Yes sir." The salarian obeys before standing up and heading out the room leaving once again an inactive Pallin swarmed by paper work.

Unlike Pallin another turian was far from paperwork after discovering Cardi within the bathroom of Bjorn's accommodation. Brutagus is back in Zakera Ward and is within the office of Yentha, leaning against a wall while the asari is looking at her console and watching the news reports on the recent incident. Despite C-Sec's best attempts to keep the story on a low profile the fact that Cardi was an employee of the Consort has made it an important story for journalists. Brutagus isn't happy at this and knows that his current knowledge of the Scythe and the fact that one of their agents was killed could make him a possible target for the organisation.

Yentha closes the console, "Fucking media, snooping where they shouldn't."

Brutagus stands straight and shrugs, "It was only natural they'd get involved. But with this Scythe agent dead, it brings their attention back to the Citadel. I've got a feeling their going to be after me because I found the body."

"The media don't know that."

He puts his hands on the desk, "But the Consort does, meaning that she herself is in danger."

"Sha'ira won't say a word on what she doesn't know. Besides, you found that the agent was targeting Bjorn, they may think otherwise." Yentha looks at him and notices that his hunch is still bothering him, "Are we to conclude that Rhea is behind this?"

"She must be here. Some of the stock footage that was taken on Eden Prime shows that she was being accompanied by a drone, a drone that looked like one of the Scythe's. Their technology allows them to hack into anything including databases like the Consort's." he begins pacing back and forth, "She must be responsible for Bjorn's disappearance as well."

"I don't see why the human is important?" Yentha exclaims.

"Because he was the only survivor of the Eden Prime mission, and saw the Scythe agent for himself."

Yentha remembers something else and opens her console again, "Talking of which, I had a look into shuttles leaving Eden Prime that day. It seems that Rhea never booked a shuttle; however there was one MSV leaving that day. It was heading here and dropping off materials."

Brutagus looks at the footage and the list of the shuttles for that day and smirks, "She must have stowed away, clever girl. So have they been lying low here for a month?"

"Looks like it. However I did get a receipt for a set of custom armour from Serrice Council, paid by credit chit." She says opening a window.

"Is it worth checking out?" he asks looking at her.

She pulls a face of disappointment, "No, but what's on the list indicates she is armoured and ready to go."

"This seems to be getting worse and worse with every second." Brutagus stops and realises that there is something that can be done, "She doesn't have a ship yet so we can't track her, we can't track her tin-can friend, but we can probably discover if the Scythe are actually coming here."

Yentha leans back on her chair, "What do you have in mind?"

"Keep an eye on the docking registry and note if there are any asari contingents meeting on the Citadel, which may lead us to Scythe. The Scythe may lead us to her." He says before heading out, "I'll check other resources." and leaves the office with Yentha alone again.

While both Pallin and Brutagus are having long days they are not the only ones. Tido has returned to his secret location on the Citadel and is currently packing his things as well as removing all evidence of his presence. He puts his pistols in their holsters and the sniper rifle on his back and frantically looks around from no reason though he knows that it won't be long before Norim's men come for him. He puts on his helmet to hide his face and puts a small pack on the free side of his back, attaching like a weapon. A sudden sound of what sounds like a blowtorch begins to creep up on his front door and the drell stays silent thinking about what to do.

Outside are two drell in full heavy armour, knowing the nature of what Tido is like and have been warned to be prepared first. Their armour is dark green and made in similarity to the Mantis armour while their head-gear resembles more of skin-tight masks with green eyes. One is using some form of hot-knife to cut open a portion of the door while the other waits guard within the alleyway.

As soon as they are done with the cutting the pair aims the rifles into the room and tread carefully inside. From their vision, they could tell that someone had been here but with the silence following the place seemed abandoned. Tido himself was still within the room only he decided to be up against the wall of the side of the door while the pair entered showing that conventional hiding sometimes was more effective as his smiles. He takes the first drell to enter out with a single bullet to the head while the other turns and knows he won't be quick enough to react.

"Norim sent you, didn't he?" he asks rhetorically getting only a nod from the other drell, "What happened to Iochus?"

"Iochus?" the drell say before receiving a bullet as well and falling to the ground. Tido had the information he needed before heading to his console and taking his memory chip and placing it in a small pouch on his waist and leaving the room with the door wide open for all to see when they pass this alley.

In an unknown location, Bjorn was the subject to interrogation. His face is severely brushed and has several burn marks on his chest from his interrogators. Within the dark room both Rhea and INC are present with the asari taking a break and leaning against a box while INC was circling the human and it prepares itself for the upcoming interview. Rhea rubs her knuckles and feels where she has used her hand to punch Bjorn, showing that she isn't playing nicely and her expression is of annoyance. The reason is Bjorn refusing to talk and his stamina to last hours in the chair while under this kind of pressure gives him credit.

Rhea cracks her fingers and stands straight before turning to INC, "We're not getting anywhere with this, he should have said something by now."

Bjorn looks up with what energy he has left, "I told you a thousand fucking times. I don't know what you're talking about."

Rhea walks up to Bjorn and lifts his head up forcing him to receive a right hook, "Don't play a fool! You knew who I was; otherwise you wouldn't have been on Eden Prime. What were you doing there?" she watches Bjorn spit to his right and look up to her, "Well?"

"Fuck you, you bitch." He says before receiving a slap. His response is a smile, "What's wrong, cutie. Is your hand tired?"

She steps back to look at her hand and looks to INC, "Give him a shock."

INC stops and waits while it extends its small but flexible tentacles which it has finally found a use for as one of the ends pinches one of Bjorn's abs while the other just waits. Bjorn doesn't feel anything until the surge coming from the drone is felt and travels through the tentacle and exits out on the human, who screams in pain. The other tentacle joins in and as INC continues, Rhea turns her head away with regret knowing that this isn't the type of thing she'd normally do.

"Alright INC, that's enough." She says as she walks out of the room and leads the machine out of the lighted area and to an area behind Bjorn. The two head into a small storage space where on the shelves are various pieces of equipment they have collected over the past month including food and weapons. Rhea shakes her head, "What are we doing INC?" she asks before closing the door.

"Answer: We are doing as you commanded." It bluntly says.

Rhea realises the cold truth in its words as she walks to the clean desk in front of her and sits down pouring herself a drink of brandy. "I know that I said kidnap Magnusson and see what we can get out of him but-"

"The asari." INC states referring to the spy Cardi, "The pattern matched. She was the Scythe-Spy."

Rhea nods, "I know, but…I don't know. I'm just having a hard time about killing people like this. I can't imagine Krieg doing something so mercilessly." She says not knowing the truth about Riley or Dogar's wife, who Krieg killed without any form of mercy. In response, INC remained silent and the machine uses its limited understanding of organics to shield itself from guilt. "I'm still worried about him. It's been five months with no attempt of communicating with us. I think we should start thinking about looking for him."

"Explanation: Krieg wished not be followed, he will find us when ready."

Rhea begins to get frustrated again, "Not this time. This time he left with no goodbye, he was in a hurry. What did you find out about the Scythe through hacking the Agent?"

"Answer: Agent Cardi was assigned to the Citadel a few decades ago by the Duchy, the central order of the Scythe. Her task was to collect information on various diplomats and other contemporaries that visited her. It is believed that she also had a contact on the Citadel itself though that information is not on record?"

"Which Chapter was she originally from?"

"Processing: The Chapter is not specified. Suggestion: The contact may be the more promising in information than either her Chapter or the human."

Rhea thinks to herself, "Ok, how should we go about this?"

"It would be wise to abandon this location and find a new temporary residence, in order to keep our trail cold."

"Okay, I'll get my gear sorted. We'll leave him here." She says before opening the door and leaving the room.

While Rhea and INC initiate their escape and intention to leave Bjorn within the location they took him, the turian Ambassador is currently being subjected to a torture of his own. Both C-Sec and Alliance Officers are arguing over the disappearance of Bjorn. He sits behind his desk and watches both parties argue with each other as the Alliance feels that C-Sec are not doing their job and C-Sec defend themselves. The C-Sec officers are mixture of the three council races and are wearing uniforms to meet the rank of the officer rather than being simple foot-patrol.

Captain Johnson continues her rant, "I have talked to the officer and he said that the Spectre in charge is the one to talk to! Why do you refuse to hand over the information to the Alliance, Commissioner!"

"Your Alliance has no authority over us, Captain Johnson. And what you request is not for us to give even if we could!" says an asari countering her question.

Johnson turns to the Ambassador, "Ambassador, surely you can give us the identity of the Spectre?"

"Even I can't, the Spectre files on any case must be classified and only accessed with permission from the Council themselves." says the turian.

"Damn it!" Johnson says while slamming the desk before looking over to her officers, "Then set up a meeting."

"I'm sorry, the loss of your officer isn't a priority of the turians I'm afraid. Now please, both of you leave." The ambassador states as the two parties grudgingly exit the room. He watches as Johnson turns and gives the turian a lasting stare before the doors shut.

She turns to her officers, "We're not going to get anything out here, let's return to our post." She says before heading on down the hallway with her men.

One of them looks at the Captain while they are walking, "What about Bjorn?"

"We'll figure out something back at the ship." She says before entering the elevator.

The young officer stands next to her and thinks to himself hesitantly before putting forward a suggestion, "Ma'am, since being on the Citadel, I've been privy to rumours."

Johnson turns to him, "Rumours? What kind of rumours McNorris?"

McNorris leans in and whispers, "I heard in Chora's Den about a guy who can give you intel on anything, for a price."

Johnson smiles and shrugs it off, "I don't want to resort to con-artists."

"No but this guy has a reputation for being good. I got talking to a representative of his while off duty." Johnson looks at the officer and raises an eyebrow, "I was off duty."

"What's this guy's name?"

"That's just it, he goes under an alias. He calls himself the Shadow Broker."

Johnson thinks to herself and knows she has heard of that name before, "I've actually heard of that name. Invite the contact in for questioning." She says before the three of them continue their journey to the ground floor.

Iochus sits in an empty club with Norim sitting one side and Ilicanar on the other. The two drell and the hanar are currently re-addressing their current status with the death of their former colleague Ferrul, who Norim killed. On the table are files as well as multiple consoles as Iochus was scanning the financial situation and by the numbers, the drell had made big losses due to his men being killed. Illicanar as Iochus' superior may not be able to express his feelings but he was unhappy with what has recently happened to the deal he put together.

"This one is unsatisfied. It notices that with the loss of Ferrul, his men will begin to fragment."

Norim looks at the hanar, "Hey, what Tido did will be enough to get them on our side, they'll want revenge."

"But what if he leaves?" Ilicanar asks.

"He has a point, Norim. If Tido leaves the Citadel he'll be too far gone for us to catch him, and punish him for what he has done to Ferrul." Iochus says morning for his the loss of his friend.

Norim looks around before leaning in to the two and they do the same as he talks, "Listen, I got a call earlier today from a guy who is currently involved in a big operation within the terminus."

"Ferrul mentioned the same thing a week ago, said his name was Sedath. He wanted us to reorganise and join a Commission of some kind. I said no."

Norim looks at his friend with confusion, "You said no? Why?"

"Because it sounded too good to be true and Ferrul agreed with me." Iochus states.

Ilicanar also adds to the conversation, "Yes, it saw that Sedath was more interested in our income rather than a partnership."

"But with Ferrul dead, this Sedath maybe our only option. Most likely he could find him." Norim puts forward.

Iochus looks at his hanar colleague and sighs knowing the truth in Norim's words, "Okay. I'll reconsider the offer, for Ferrul's family."

Before he can get another word out of his mouth the sound of commotion can be heard from the entrance as both Iochus and Norim stand up and pull pistols from their jackets. A few seconds pass and silence follows only for one of the door staff to be hurled through the entrance and to the other side of the room. With no one else to protect they prepare themselves for what seems to be Tido but they are shocked when they see Agon entering the room with two of his krogan cohorts. The bodyguards are armed with rifles while Agon himself is unarmed as he turns to Iochus and gives a look of distain. The krogan paces towards the drell and pulls him over the table while Norim put his pistol down as his bodyguards point their weapons at him.

"Iochus, you piece of shit. You've made me have a bad day." He says to him.

"You got your stuff, why haven't you left?"

"It seems I have C-Sec crawling all-over my ships. And now it is impossible to leave this place." He brings him in closer, "I should have been away this morning." His puts him down, "Explain yourself, now."

Iochus wipes his shoulder of the krogan and looks at him, "After you left, a mercenary we hired to protect both Norim and Ferrul betrayed us, killing Ferrul in the process. It's his fault that you're still on the Citadel."

Agon looks at Norim and approaches, "Is he dead?"

"No, I've sent some-"

"Not good enough. If this merc thinks he is going to interrupt us, he's got another thing coming. Where was he last?"

"I can give you the address of his place. If he's gone he'll be impossible to find." Norim says and acknowledges Tido's ability.

"Show me, now." Agon orders but has no authority. Norim looks at Iochus and the other drell nods as Norim puts his pistol in his holster and leads the krogan out. Agon presses a button on his armour, "This is your Commander, bring the varren and rendezvous at my location."

Tido himself however has made good time on his escape and no one is following him within the wards. He has chosen to remain among the crowd of the retail district as he walks past many other aliens including a few humans who are trying to establish a store within this area of the 800 blocks. He doesn't know that the krogan led by Agon are now also after him and both parties were nearing each other. Norim is leading the trio of bigger aliens towards Tido's place but while the group are only a few hundred yards from Iochus' lounge, business for the drell is still the same as Norim notices a store owned by a few turians.

Tido is in the crowd and being more cautious sees this though his helmet covering his face and watches as the other drell talks to Agon for second and walks into the store ready to extort money from the turians. Tido sees an opportunity and walks through the incoming crowd, but not to pull out his weapons, instead he approaches Agon and his krogan who don't recognise him as Tido as Norim hasn't given a description. He coughs to get their attention. "Hey, what's the boss doing?"

"Should I know you, punk?" Agon says as the other two clench their weapons.

"I'm one of Norim's boys. He said that I should meet him at the club for something." He lies while Norim is still threatening the turians.

"Well he's going to be busy for a while. You should be pissed off. Turns out a fucking dickhead called Tido ruined our chance to leave. Norim's sent guys after him but we're going teach him a lesson instead." Agon says not realising who he is talking to.

Tido stays silent for a second, "I see. He must not need me then. See you later." He says about to walk off only for Agon to hold his arm, "What gives?"

Agon looks at him, "Keep your eyes wide open. If you see him, tell Norim."

"Oh I will, believe me." Tido says before shrugging him off and walking away.

Tido continues walking down the street and as he does sees a second obstacle in his way as walking into the Iochus' lounge happens to be Pallin, who a few years ago was given a lead by Iochus on Tido and was most likely the same scenario. Tido sighs and knows that his initial plan to get to Iochus has been compromised again and so has to think of an alternative as the drell looks towards the alleyway and thinks to himself about how he can get to him. He creeps over and sees no one but a drunk batarian who would be arrested soon if he didn't move as he steps over his drunken body and sees a ladder indented into the wall, an opportunity.

Brutagus meanwhile was currently getting out of his air-car and heading into the Chora's Den, which by 2185 was closed down for good. When he walks through the doors he notices that the business has changed from what the previous owner Quard had done with the place. He looks around and see whether or not his contact has arrived but knows that this person is not a simple customer as he wonders towards the offices in the back of the club.

He sees the krogan bodyguard waiting as the alien leans against the wall and keeps his business his own. When the turian approaches him the krogan nods and lets Brutagus enter the store room that lead to the offices. He looks at the new human workers in the back and sees that the new race are taking opportunities from all directions but it would take a generation before they reach where Brutagus was as the spectre opens the door to the offices and turns towards the desk, only to see a volus sitting there.

"Barla Von, wouldn't have thought I'd see you in a place like this." He says crossing his arms.

The volus looks up from his work and nods, "It's only temporary Mister Brutagus, good to see you again. I got a call that you would be visiting. I'm not in trouble am I?"

Brutagus chuckles as he sits himself down opposite him, "No, no, you're fine. I need information."

"Who doesn't." he says before switching off his console, "What can I do for you?"

Brutagus checks behind him encase anyone is listening in, "I need you to find someone for me."

Barla Von leans back, "I see, and what makes you think that I can find this 'someone'."

The turian smiles, "I know your relationship with the Shadow Broker, there is nothing this guy doesn't know."

"Okay, okay. What's the name and I'll see what I can do."

Brutagus leans in, "The name is Rhea T'Anya. She is on the Citadel."

"I know."

"What?" he says confused.

"Yes, I know the person you're talking about. The asari, the murder, the fugitive. The Council have put a hefty bounty on her head."

"Then if you know that, then you know where she is. But what do you want in return?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yes nothing, except a donation of the bounty you get for Rhea's capture." Barla Von reveals the catch.

He sighs in response, "How much do you want."

Barla Von leans forward, "Luckily the Shadow Broker had given me a dossier on what he wants. He wants half the bounty."

The turian thinks to himself about the deal, "Sure."

The volus nods, "Good, I'll inform him. You'll find that T'Anya has been located recently not far from here. In fact you could say that she is only across the way in the wards access."

The turian stands in shock, "Wait, she's not far?"

He nods in response, "Indeed. She came to me for asylum and I gave her the location of a small storage space in the upper wards. You're the first person to come to me. I'm expecting a meeting with the Alliance later."

"The Alliance?" Brutagus raises his eyebrow.

"Yes, a man named McNorris was in the bar a few days ago. We got talking and I said I could probably help. Too bad they acted too late. Both he and his superior are on their way." Barla Von states.

The turian smirks, "Looks like I should be on my way then." He says exiting the office and leaving the volus to his own devices. Brutagus is walking past the patrons and switches on his visor to open a channel to Yentha, "Yentha, we've got her."

"Really? How?"

"I made a deal with the Shadow Broker. Apparently she is not far from here."

"Do you need back up?"

"No time. Seems the Alliance is on their way to make the same deal I did."

"Okay, be careful." She says before cutting the link as Brutagus pulls out his pistol and heads towards the alley way.

Agon and Norim are inside Tido's place and have found the two dead drell sent to kill him. The krogan look at each other unimpressed as they had heard about the effectiveness of the drell in assassinations though this time it seemed to backfire. Norim sits on the bed and puts his head in his hands and shows signs of stress due to Tido knowing the truth about what happened after the deal. Two other krogan had arrived by now and each was holding a varren on a leash ready to use them to find Tido as Agon pats one on the head.

"It seems that your men are no longer useful, Norim. I expected better from drell."

"Well, Tido's something different." Norim says standing up and opening Tido's console.

"Sounds like you don't like him too much, despite the fact he killed your friend." Agon notices.

"It's personal. He's done enough to ruin things here with my family." Norim alludes to the history between them.

Agon nods, "Well, maybe we can end it." He turns to the varren keepers, "Get them to sniff the place and catch his scent." then turns back to Norim, "How do you know Tido?"

Norim smiles, "Me and Tido go way back to our childhoods. We were both raised in the Terminus, streets of Omega are tough. When we were ten, Tido's dad was killed in crossfire between Aria's thugs and the Bloodpack. From then on, Tido would do anything to survive, he killed his first victim six months later, the krogan responsible for his dad's death, stuck a knife through the crest."

"Sounds dangerous." Agon says.

"That's not all. With no family to guide him, he met a guy who mentored him and gave him a new view on the hanar. His mentor had served as an assassin on Kahje and resented the way in which the drell were subservient to them. He sent Tido at age twelve to kill his former employer and after that several other hanar. He became a disgrace to our people, his name is now a slur." Norim states.

"And how do you come into this?"

"I got into crime here on the Citadel, small time I know but it's a living. Finally I met Tido again; he had changed so greatly he viewed death as some sort of game. Iochus needed a guy to clean out the other drell crime bosses and hired Tido, though he wasn't happy about resorting to him. Tido didn't just kill the bosses, but the underbosses', some of the soldiers, members of their families connected to crime. He made his stain once again."

Agon understands what they are dealing with now but notices that one of the varren is sniffing his hand the same hand that he used grab Tido as he was walking past though doesn't seem to realise what is going on. "What gives?" he says before looking back at Norim.

"I thought those things were meant to sniff out Tido?"

"They are. They should have his scent by now-" Agon realises that guy he grabbed was the one they were looking for, "Fuck! That little bastard!"

"What?" Norim ask approaching him.

Agon punches the wall in frustration, "While you were getting money from those turians, someone stating that he was one of your guys asked me what was going on. It was him."

"Oh shit!" Norim shouts as he knows that if he was that close to them in the 800 blocks then he may already have killed Iochus and Ilicanar. "We better get back."

An hour has past and some Alliance troops were on the same path as Brutagus with Captain Johnson not far behind with McNorris. The group of four soldiers and the two officers were passing the alley and heading up the steps. The leading soldier turns left and heads towards the elevator hoping to make the lost time that Brutagus has made.

Brutagus himself was in the Wards Access and within a small room with a Keeper next to him. He is using his Omni-tool to hack open a hidden door due to a tip from Barla Von. When the small four-foot door opens he smiles and crouches to get underneath only to find a small hallway but tall enough to stand.

The Alliance soldier are not far behind as they enter the store room catching the attention of some C-Sec officers within the proximity, slowly following them. Johnson notices and keeps them busy with McNorris while the soldiers see the new opening and enter cautiously and walk down the dark gloomy hallway towards a small shimmer of light.

As they enter, they slowly lower their weapons and see Brutagus with his arms crossed as he is looking at a beaten down Bjorn still in the chair tied up and falling in and out of consciousness. They are later followed by Johnson, who sees Bjorn and immediately runs towards her officer.

"Bjorn, wake up! Are you alight?" she asks using her hand to raise his chin. She knows that he is in pain and turns to Brutagus, "Why haven't you help him?"

"He wasn't who I was looking for." Brutagus states as he walks off and heads towards the entrance.

"Don't you turn you back on me!" Johnson says catching the spectre's attention. "You're going to have to explain this to the Alliance."

Brutagus smiles behind her back and turns around walking up to face, "For what?"

"Obstructing us from finding our marine. If you and C-Sec would have helped us, this could have been resolved and Bjorn would be back with us sooner."

"Bjorn is your concern. I was looking for his kidnapper who happens to be the asari he was sent to capture a month ago." he laughs, "This whole situation was the Alliance's fault, for getting into Council Affairs instead of contacting us to deal with the problem."

Johnson infuriated slaps the turian across the face, "How dare you, we were protecting our interests."

"Really? Well you've got your man, be happy." Brutagus says before leaving. His status as a spectre leaves him untouchable by the other marines as he walks past and down the hallway. As he crouches under the small opening he sees a couple of C-Sec officers talking to McNorris but he dismisses them and carries on towards the elevator to where the Alliance came from and presses his visor once again, "Yentha, she got away."

"Shit. Don't worry about the Shadow Broker, I'll cover the cost."

"Thanks, looks like I'll be having some trouble with the Alliance for the next few weeks."

"They can't touch you, you files are classified."

"I know, but it should hinder us for a while." Brutagus admits, "I'll get back to you soon." and shuts off his link before waiting for the elevator to go down.

Back inside Rhea's former hideout, Johnson is untying Bjorn from his torture and two of the other soldiers are ready to lift him when she has finished. Outside, the C-Sec officers are awaiting the arrival of one of their superiors who ironically wasn't currently attached to the case as Pallin arrives and nods the two officers before noticing the opening and takes a step inside. Walking down the small hallway he then witness the humans carrying Bjorn's body and covering him with a blanket. The turian sees that Johnson has found what she wanted and won't be bothering her anymore but that not why he is here as he takes out his cuffs and when the opportunity arises manages to cuff the Captain with no problems and the surprise of all humans inside.

She looks at the cuffs in shock, "What's going on?"

"You're under arrest, Captain." He states and the soldiers are not helping her.

"For what?"

"Obstructing a C-Sec investigation by taking the law into your own hands and harassing various parties on the Citadel. I don't suggest you say anything."

"I'm an Alliance Officer, you can't do this."

Pallin leans in, "Watch me." And grabs her by the cuffs and escorts her out. He is in the company of the two other officers when his com-link goes off and opens the channel, "This is Pallin."

"Pallin, we've just got an anonymous tip. Tido is at Iochus's Lounge."

He sighs as he looks at the other officers, "Okay, I'm on my way. Call for back up at both there and for the two officers here in the Wards Access." He says before closing the link and handing Johnson over to other two officers. He takes his pistol and readies himself to head over to the 800 blocks, though he's already there. Before however give a brief the two other officers, "Listen, keep an eye on Johnson and the other soldiers. Make sure the victim gets to the medical clinic and update me when you can." They nod in understanding as he is about to walk off.

"Pallin, you really think you can arrest me. The Alliance will pay my bail." Johnson claims.

Pallin himself turns around and smiles, "Even so, I wouldn't consider that you would be working for the Alliance after this. Associating yourself with the Shadow Broker is a dirty business." And walks out of the store room as other officers arrive.

**2185- Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Bjorn is sitting on the floor of the elevator and his pistol was on the other side of the room as Brutagus has let the human go but has made sure he is placed in an inferior position to him. The turian is leaning on the other side of the elevator and smiling about that time and the irony of how things have now changed and humans have more say than they ever did twenty-five years before, in which they had none. Bjorn looks up to him in resentment as he knew that because the turian was a Spectre his files were classified and this made him impartial within the whole investigation afterwards.

"You gave C-Sec the tip didn't you? You knew Johnson and McNorris were going to the Barla Von so you used it against them."

The turian smiles, "You have to understand that the Shadow Broker would know where T'Anya was, but she was good at keeping her head down. That's why she went unnoticed for a month."

The memories are clearly remembered by Bjorn and the memories afterwards as well, "You screwed Johnson out of her career. She got demoted for what she did and was never promoted back again."

"Yes. I heard a back door deal was made between the Council and Arcturus to keep this quite, would have been embarrassing for humans otherwise." Bruatgus states before looking down and picking up Bjorn's case, "Now let's have a look on what you're looking at." And proceeds to open it, "Mm…Seems Rhea has sparked you interest again. I heard she survived what happened on Purgatory."

"You would have anything to do with that?" Bjorn asks though he knows the truth.

"You know it was Shepard's doing. I can assure you that I had nothing to do with that." He ensures as he pulls out Rhea's file, "I see you have been building up a big profile on Rhea. Why is she so interesting? A personal vendetta, perhaps?"

"My superior asked this of me." Bjorn states.

"Off course your superior. And how is he these days? I here he has a few problems of his own." The turian states before putting the file back in the case ready to take it with him, "Anyway, I better take this before you do something you'll regret. So long Mister Magnusson." He says before opening the door and walking past a small crowd that had gathered as they tried to enter the elevator but couldn't because Brutagus had jammed it. Bjorn immediately gets up and takes his pistol but as he pushes the aliens out of the way and looks around, Brutagus has enigmatically disappeared and leaves the human with nothing for his investigation.

**15/04/2160- 800 Blocks, Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Pallin is pacing in front of both Illicanar and Iochus who are both under stress due to the recent death of their friend and colleague Ferrul. They are not privy to the information that Norim was in fact responsible for the drell's murder but Tido does and this drell is currently watching them from up on the balcony out of their view. The drell managed to enter the lounge via one of the vents that the keepers normally use though these are most of the time unknown to locals of the Citadel but Tido utilizes them for his escapes, the reason why he can be so elusive.

Pallin places his hands on the table showing more frustration than normal, "So you're saying that you haven't seen Tido at all?"

"Not since that day, no. Believe me officer; we would like to see him arrested as much as you. Ferrul was a dear friend." Iochus states innocently.

The C-Sec officer stands straight, "We've quarantined the ships that your business partners were using. All we need is a warrant to search them and you'll most likely go down with them. You better give me something Iochus."

Iochus thinks to himself as he has just put a hit on Tido and the drell knows that if this is found out then he could be serving more time than he would for illegal business deals, "I don't know where Tido lives. Only Norim knows."

"Norim, how does he know?"

"I don't know but he does. Him and Tido go way back so I guess he would know more about him than me."

"Then where can I find him?" Pallin asks.

"I don't keep tabs on all my employees, officer." He responds to Pallin's frustration.

With the three continuing their conversation Tido uses the opportunity to creep towards the location of Iochus' office which is considered off-limits to all except a few. The drell sees that the door is shut and sealed tightly but this proves no obstacle. Through his helmet he looks through and sees the fingerprints upon the key pad, which is in batarian symbols.

He then proceeds to press in a code and with luck it happens to be the one that opens the door, meaning that he has done this before. Tido doesn't waste any time walking behind the desk and switching the console on and placing his memory chip inside, downloading all the files he has in order to find a weakness but now wasn't the time to observe but to wait as the turian officer leaves and catches the pair off-guard.

Norim and his drell are heading inside of the bar and see Pallin though that wasn't why they were here as they had used Agon's varren to trace the scent of Tido back to Iochus but the drell was nowhere to be seen.

"Just the man I wanted to see." Says Pallin as he approaches him.

"What? Iochus what's going on?" he asks his superior as they stand up.

Pallin gets up close to Norim, "Where is Tido hiding? Iochus said that you know him."

Norim looks at Iochus who nods, "I do but he's gone."

"Of course he has." Pallin says not surprised as he turns to Iochus, "This is why you should leave the finding to C-Sec." The group are then confronted by Agon and his men who have just entered their club with their varren though not impressed at the way the situation is being handled. "And I see your business partners are in on the fray." Pallin says towards Agon's direction.

"I have no time for you, turian. I just want to get off this station." the krogan states and his pets are restless as they were nearing their target.

"You don't want to do that, krogan. You ships are unable to leave until our investigation is over and anything further may place you in more deep shit." Pallin warns though the krogan smiles.

"You really think that your foolish system can stop us?" Agon replies while he turns to see that the varren are growling at something from above as he looks up at the balcony and see only a foot make contact with him.

Tido knocks Agon down and then turns to the other krogan who raise their weapons and fire immediately at him. He, along with Pallin, Iochus, Norim and Illicanar all take cover underneath the tables but this proves useless as they release the varren loose and they immediately head for Tido's direction. The drell then risks exposing himself by climbing on and table pulling out his pistol as he looks around to see Norim exposed as well.

He lifts his pistol and aims but feeling of arms contacting his ankles takes him to his back on top of the table. He looks up and sees Agon ready to punch the table but rolls off back onto his feet. The krogan is also quick as he reaches over and grabs both of Tido's pistols with both hands pulls him over and swings him towards the two drell and the hanar.

As Tido makes impact with the table Norim seizes the opportunity to kill Tido though he is stopped by Pallin and the two begin a fist fight. The drell and the turian square off and Pallin uses his reach to get a few left straights into Norim's face but is eventually countered with a crouch and sweeping of the legs. Before he can be mounted Pallin uses his legs to kick the drell back, knocking him against a nearby wall and showing the power of a turian's legs. As he gets up Pallin is met with a foot to the face, courtesy of Tido who has just recovered from landing on the table. Norim tackles Pallin down afterwards and gives him a few punches before Agon shoves him out of the way to get to Tido.

The drell dodges the krogan's charge and uses the momentum to kick him in the back making Agon stumble while Tido prepares himself. Agon regains his footing and gets ready for a fist fight with him having an advantage. Agon attempts a right hook but the drell leans back and when another comes his way he ducks. Tido, seizing the opportunity hits Agon in the crest of his head this proves effective as Agon tries to keep up. The krogan takes this into account as he waits for Tido to get too eager and when drell attempts to go for a high kick, Agon grabs the leg and uses his free hand punch the knee.

A scream of pain is heard from the drell as Iochus, Illicanar, Pallin and Norim watch as Agon then aims for the drell stomach and he can feel the impact through his armour. Agon continues his onslaught as he picks him up with one arm and begin heading towards the wall with intention of use Tido as shield. Tido is aware of this and despite being held by Agon shifts his momentum to the side and grabbing a table, halting the krogan. Agon drops him and as he turns Tido uses his remaining leg to kick Agon in the face before he attempts to escape the bar. Norim attempts to chase him but before he can, Pallin trips him and heads for him himself.

Pallin doesn't expect while he's running to meet Agon's arm as he falls with his back to the ground and Agon towering over him, "He's mine." He says as he heads towards the entrance leaving only Iochus and Illicanar unharmed.

Tido is limping through the streets and is pushing whoever is in his path as he now only has a sniper rifle to protect him as he pulls it out and turns around. This immediate action causes the aliens to run in all different directions as they move out the way but one isn't going anywhere. Agon is punching whatever person is in his way as he now carries an assault rifle he took from one of his crew. He presses a button his wrist and a light orange aura appears around him. This shield proves useful as while his crew are exiting and fleeing the scene the remaining tattooed krogan paces towards Tido.

Tido shoots a few rounds but the shield is proving too effect as Agon reaches grabbing distance but he feels a sudden halt in his movements as he looks to find a blue aura around his hand. He looks to his right and sees a face he hasn't scene in a long time as Rhea is using her power to stop him. Agon only just realises who she is as she uses a push to hurl the krogan through a store window.

Tido turns his rifle towards Rhea but his hands are stunned by INC and he drops it, "Fuck!"

"Come with me." Rhea says as she leads the drell off and the three of them enter the alleyways.

Agon can only hear the sound of sirens within the street and when he is only just regaining his vision when he meet the end of a barrel and on the giving end is Pallin, "You're under arrest." He says before he here's the sound of other officers holding their weapons behind him.

While Pallin apprehends Agon a C-Sec team enters Iochus' bar and are surprised to find what they see. There was no sign of Norim and the other krogan had escaped as well but Iochus and Illicanar still remained as the pair were lying dead on the floor with a bullet in the drell's face and in the body of the hanar.

Norim however was following to what he believes was Pallin down an alleyway as the pair have made enough distance to evade arrest from C-Sec. When he has catched his breath he immediately pulls his pistol and points it at Pallin who from the drell's expression was the one who killed Iochus and Illicanar. A quiet laugh is heard from the turian as he watches the shape change from a young male into a female. The C-Sec uniform also melts and is replaced by a set of slender silver armour.

"What the fuck are you?" he asks as the turian turns to reveal her face.

"The name is Juna."


	29. Hide and Seek: Part III

**Chapter XXIX: Hide and Seek: Part III**

**15/04/2160- Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Norim takes a few steps back and gets a better look at his supposed saviour confused at why she had killed Iochus and Illicanar back in the bar before C-Sec could find that she was posing as Pallin. The turian, now re-mastered by Krinal to shape-shift into other turians, both male and female, is now facing the drell as she waits for the shock from him to leave. She decides that leading Norim through the alleyways is the best thing to do it as he keeps on her tale leading him to the upper rafters of the 800 blocks via ladder so that they can't be seen by bystanders.

"Wait." Says Norim looking around before speaking, "You killed Iochus, Illicanar…and you, you-"

"I've done you a favour, Norim. Sedath was unhappy with your patience to turn your employer to our cause. So he ordered me to speed things up." Juna states acting as merciless as she did before she was killed.

"I didn't want to kill Ferrul, but I had to get Iochus in on this deal. Now he's dead and Tido is still out there." He says before leaning on the balcony, "I didn't want it to end this way."

"Indeed. Tido is still alive and knows that you killed Ferrul. He may have been framed, but that won't stop him." Juna states.

"Then kill him."

Juna looks at Norim, "That's was your job. Sedath will need an update." She says as presses a button on her wrist and a small hologram of the salarian's head appears for the two to see, "Sedath, Iochus and Illicanar are dead as ordered."

"Of course, Juna. I knew you wouldn't fail me." He says before turning to Norim's direction, "With your disposal of Ferrul, it seems that inherit Iochus' empire here on the Citadel. Congratulations, Norim."

"Wait a minute; there was nothing about me leading, you said that I was to just lure them into this thing."

"And they weren't budging, leaving us with no other option. You will resume their duties and I will give you the details of a new hanar representative to help you in rebuilding what was lost."

"What of the krogan?"

"They will be dealt with." His head turns to Juna, "We have recently found that an agent of the Duchess was killed on the Citadel. Arrange for the remains to be brought back to Korlus and destroy the asari contingent that intend to take her corpse."

"Yes, Sedath." She says before closing the hologram as she turns to Norim, "The krogan that accompanied you. He needs to die in order to preserve your innocence. He'll say that you were there but you 'weren't', were you?" Norim understands as he and Juna head across the upper passages of the 800 blocks.

The other remaining person that isn't either dead or in custody is Tido who is sitting in what looks like the apartment that Rhea and Vessana lived in while they were both on the Citadel. The windows were darkened and the furniture had been removed though there were a few empty crates inside the place. Tido was sitting on a crate with his right leg up on another due to Agon injuring him in their skirmish. Rhea was also present as she looks out of the window and takes a look at the presidium while INC continues to scan the drell.

Tido looks at INC and then looks towards Rhea, "Is this necessary?"

Rhea looks at him, "INC's just checking if you're damaged."

"Complete: The bone is fractured but not broken."

"Well that's good news." he says sarcastically before turning back to Rhea, "Why am I here? I didn't expect someone to save me without a reason."

She raises her eyebrow, "I didn't. INC informed me that you were currently on the Citadel due to news coverage on the murder of a guy called Ferrul. But that's not why I saved you."

"Then what was it then?" Tido asks in an uncaring manner.

"You don't remember me do you?" Rhea says approaching him.

He tilts his head, "Should I? Listen, I've been from one end of the galaxy to the other."

"So have I. You were here three years ago with two others, a quarian and a salarian with intent on taking down an alien."

Tido thinks to himself. He remembers the incident well as it was one of his more obscure contracts, "That? Oh yeah, that was just a job."

Rhea is offended by the drell's manner and shows her expression to prove it, "Just a job? I thought you killed my friend that day, for months I mourned him."

"What do you want? An apology? Listen I was paid to kill that thing." Tido says and backing every mercenary in the galaxy.

"Lucky that thing wasn't my friend. How come those krogan were after you?" she asks interested as she has seen Agon before.

Tido sighs as he knows he is stuck in this position as Rhea had just saved him, "I was involved in a contract to protect Ferrul and his men encase the krogan attacked during a deal. The krogan were fine and got what they wanted but unlucky for me, Ferrul's second in command pulls a fast one and takes down Ferrul. He blamed it on me and when the krogan couldn't get out off the Citadel they decided to help him in the hunt."

"Why didn't you explain that to the krogan?" she replies bluntly.

Tido laughs, "Who are they going to believe? Besides, I have all their secrets now."

Rhea watches him pull out his memory chip, "Oh really?"

"Yeah, I downloaded these files encase things get more ugly. I'll trade them if you want?" Tido offers in his sly attitude.

"What's in them?" Rhea asks with curiosity.

"Don't know, don't care. I just want to get off this place now." He says before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and puts one in his mouth, "Cigarette?"

Rhea watches as he lights it and remembers Krieg as he used to smoke cigars, "No thanks, it's a bad habit from what I've heard."

Tido smiles, "Better than Red Sand or Lucky Lime. I've seen people on Omega become addicted to that shit."

"What do you want for it then?" Rhea gets back to the subject.

Tido inhales before speaking, "I need you to help me get off the Citadel. This place is too hot for me so I want to get back to the Terminus Systems."

Rhea looks at her counterpart, "What do you think INC?"

"Affirmative: This Tido will know the best ways of avoiding detection."

"Hopefully. Besides, I now have both krogan and Norim after me, any help would be nice." Tido says indicating the loss of his weapons thanks to Agon.

"That krogan who almost killed you, I've seen him before on Omega a few years ago." Rhea recalls when she first started adventuring herself.

"Those krogan normally are in the Terminus, but are rare even there. I don't know much about them to be honest, only that their good at tracking, we may want to move quickly. They used varren to find me." Tido states and knows their reliability.

Rhea acknowledges this, "Sure. Need any gear?"

"A few pistols would be nice, that guy grabbed mine while I was fighting earlier." He says before Rhea reaches in a nearby crate and pulls out two HMWP's and throws them to the drell. He examines them before putting one in his holster and admires them, "Nice."

Agon is within the C-Sec Academy though like most who are arrested is restrained on a chair for the officer's safety more than his. He waits patiently and observes his surroundings which aren't very much as the room was plain and not meant for anything else but interrogation. His other krogan were currently in hiding due to him being captured but this was a necessity among them as they wanted to evade conflict. He knew little about the true situation and Norim's betrayal of his fellow drell and hanar and believes Tido was the cause of his capture also not knowing that the Pallin he saw was actually Juna in disguise. His head turns towards the door as the salarian C-Sec officer, Garahie enters the room alone.

Garahie circles the restrained krogan hold a clipboard, "No criminal record, no real identification, and no profile what so ever. You keep yourself in the dark well, krogan."

Agon brushes off the salarians words, "I do my best. What's the charge?"

"Two accounts of murder. Iochus and Illicanar are dead." He reveals prompting Agon's attention.

"Impossible, they were alive when I left the bar."

Garahie smiles unconvinced, "And they were dead when we entered. If it was Tido that did it he would be another suspect in this case but with him off the map once again, you're our only lead."

"What about Pallin?" Agon asks not knowing that it was actually Juna.

"Pallin? Officer Pallin?"

He nods, "Yeah, he was inside of the club the time this happened."

Garahie recalls the event from his point of view, "Officer Pallin was on his way to the 800 Blocks during the time you decided to cause a scene."

"Impossible! He was there!" Agon shouts as he is surer about this than anything.

"He wasn't, I can clarify that. When you were at the scene you were witnessed chasing Tido, why?" Garahie asks hoping for answers.

"No comment." Comes from Agon no wanting to reveal the truth to C-Sec and risk further problems.

"I see this isn't going to go anywhere."

"You're right, this isn't. Are you going to let me go now?" Agon sits up.

"I don't think there is any intention to let you go. Your fellow krogan have all gone missing. No one can save you now." The salarian states indicating that the krogan was all alone.

"They're doing that because they have to."

The salarian get close, "Krogan don't hide."

"We're not your average krogan." Agon proclaims and his smile cause Garahie to step back in caution.

The salarian walks out of the interrogation room and back down the hallway towards his office when he sees Brutagus walking past him and the turian ignores him as he approaches the entrance to Pallin's office uninvited. He sees the other C-Sec officer stand up and confused at the Spectre's sudden entry. Garahie himself is heading towards the office and eve's drops on the conversation.

"I need to see that krogan you detained." Brutagus orders.

"Brutagus, a pleasure. I don't normally thank spectres but thanks to you I have the arrest of an Alliance officer under my belt though that won't last. The krogan isn't a part of your investigation whatever it is?"

"Just take me to the krogan, now. I have no time to waste." He says with little reasoning in his actions.

"Neither do I. Paperwork is better when it's done. Schedule an appointment and you'll see the krogan in a day or two." As Pallin sits down.

Brutagus slams the C-Sec officer's desk losing his patience, "Now!"

"Alright, alright. Take it you won't be needing someone in there with you?" Pallin says reluctantly as he escorts the spectre out of his office.

Garahie distances himself away from the two as the turians take the short walk towards the room where Agon is being detained. The salarian watches Pallin swipe his card to open the door and also switches the audio off as this was Spectre business and not C-Sec. Pallin walks away as Brutagus enters the room though. As the doors are about to shut Garahie quickly approaches the door and throws an object through the gap, attaching itself to the bottom of the restrain chair. He heads back to his office which he should have been in a few minutes before but instead of doing work he puts a pair of headphones on and listens in on the conversation between the two.

He adjusts the signal and gets a reading, "…Well. You have a way of getting into trouble."

"Brutagus. The last person I'd thought I'd see."

"But I'm here. I heard about your little scuffle down in Zakera Ward. I didn't think the streets were your kind of place."

"Well I had some unfinished business to attend to."

"I heard about Tido. In fact that's why I'm here. The drell is off the map again, but I managed to trace a person I was interested in on her way to the scene. Rhea T'Anya."

"Who?"

"The asari that hurled you through the window. She's wanted across the galaxy nowadays. I can't believe that you didn't know."

"Her…I thought she looked familiar. I saw her on Omega five years ago with her grey friend."

"Grey friend?...Wait, you talking about K-Thousand aren't you, that thing is dead."

"K-Thousand, said his name was Krieg. Pretty tough guy from what I saw. Nah, he couldn't be dead. I've seen him in action and save her from both Bloodpack and Eclipse bastards."

"Well he's not with her. She now travels alone with a machine by her side, now she seems to want Tido with her as well for some reason."

"That fucking bastard is responsible for why I am still here. If you want help I can't give it this time, C-Sec have charged me with the murder of two aliens. That bastard Pallin has put the blame on me."

"Pallin wasn't there. He was on the way to another location after I gave a tip-off."

"Well who was it then? I was there, Tido was, Iochus, Illicanar and Pallin. Tido and I didn't do it so that leaves Norim and I think he is too loyal to do such a thing."

"…Shit, I have to go. Anyway, I'll come and visit soon. There's something I have to check out." Brutagus says ending the conversation as Garahie decides that this lead may help the case though the means of acquiring the information is not exactly by the book. He takes another one of the bugs and swiftly throws it on the collar of Brutagus, where he wouldn't feel it. The C-Sec officer takes out his omni-tool and uses it to bring a map of the Citadel and show the Spectre's location.

Tido, Rhea and INC are within the alleyways of a major warehousing complex in the wards though which ward is unspecified as they travel through the system with INC on watchful guard. The drell is leading them to an escape route off the Citadel though the only way to leave is to fly from the station itself.

Tido sees that he is nearing the location and is looking to see if the coast is clear when he approaches a door that leads to the back of a warehouse and opens the door using a code he knows. When he unlocks the door, he leads the two inside where the place is fairly empty though mainly large crates are stored inside this particular warehouse.

As they approach one of these crates Tido turns, "Here we are."

Rhea looks at INC and is confused from Tido's actions, "You've lead us here? You wanted a ticket of the Citadel not somewhere deeper inside."

"Relax, give me a second." He replies before heading to the crates control panel and types in a code written only in symbols known to a drell.

As the doors to the crate open, Rhea and INC observe the contents. It was a shuttle of asari design which is silver in colour along with a smooth aerodynamic look. The shape was oval with the rear end having exhausts while the front donned and hammerhead–like shape. The entrance to the shuttle is on the right hand though there isn't the left by Tido who opens this door by pressing the button next to it uses this side and reveals the interior, consisting of an open space though he seems to have cluttered it with crates of his own. The ship itself is supported by three circular feet that combine as hover devices for take-off.

Rhea looks at the ship and is amazed that Tido has such a model, "I've seen these. This is an asari commando shuttle, one that's dispatched for stealth missions. How did you get this?"

Tido sees that she is impressed, "Well, I got it in a factory raid, fresh off the shelf. But there's a problem."

She raise an eyebrow, "What?"

Tido sits on the edge of the shuttle and takes out a cigarette, "The ship was stolen and stored here. It still doesn't have an internal system to help take it off."

"You have a ship without the ability to move." Rhea asks not believing it.

Tido takes a smoke and points to INC, "I don't, though you little friend here could help. It seems to be good at that sort of thing from what I see. Also, this ship doesn't have a serial code, meaning that the asari don't even know I have it."

Rhea looks at the drone, "INC, can you upload a new system?"

"Affirmative: Though it will take approximately twenty hours to cover all criteria." It states to them both as it enters the shuttle.

She rolls her eyes, "A day? Shit. We can't stay to long otherwise someone will find us."

"Well, no one knows about this place but some criminals and officers on their payroll. Not even Norim knows about this thing." Tido says in a relaxed manner.

"Well, I guess we can wait it out. INC you better get to work." she says.

"Affirmative." INC says as it begins to switch on the systems.

"So, where are we off to then?" Tido asks and Rhea looks at him suspicious, "It's my ship, I won't let it abandon me that easily."

Rhea sighs and knows that he is right so decides to reveal the details, "I haven't really decided yet. I need to hide somewhere, where no one can find me until I'm ready."

Tido chuckles while exhaling the smoke, "Good look. The Shadow Broker has cameras everywhere so he'll trace you to geth space if need be. Best bet is the Migrant Fleet but they'll shoot on sight."

Rhea catches the last bit and thinks to herself, "Wait. That's perfect. Hey, I bet I can contact Zeki from this thing."

"Who's Zeki?" Tido asks,

"Zeki was a quarian I met during my travels. I haven't seen her in a few years but maybe she can give us shelter." She says opening her omni-tool.

"It sounds too risky to me." Tido says standing up and walking outside.

Rhea looks at the drell, "Well, I'm in charge and I say we go there."

"Since when?" Tido says.

Rhea put her hands on her hips, "Since I saved your life."

Yentha and Brutagus are sitting within her office at the back of a casino that Yentha apparently manages. They are both quiet as they both seem to be in deep thought as the turian has just explained the story which Agon told him and isn't sure if it's true but he knows Pallin couldn't have committed those crimes. He came to this conclusion as Pallin was a by-the-book officer and wouldn't risk hurting his career for the death of two criminals.

Yentha stands up and walks to a desk where she pours a glass of wine for herself and a glass of unknown alcohol for the dextro-based turian and brings them over. They are both quick to take a sip as their current investigation into Rhea has turned cold but has been twisted around with C-Sec's investigation.

Brutagus sighs before speaking, "Well, what do you think?"

"I don't think this Agon would lie about such a thing. Are you sure he said Pallin?" Yentha asks not sure.

He responds with a nod, "More sure than anything, and I could tell he wasn't lying either. If someone was posing as Pallin, then they did a good job to convince him."

"Sounds like Tido is the only one to clarify that and he's just as elusive as Rhea." Yentha states.

"You think they're still together?" Brutagus asks

She shrugs, "Maybe. Tido needs to get off the Citadel, so does Rhea. They could be working together for a common goal."

"What about the other krogan with the tattoos?" Brutagus asks referring to Agon's crew.

"What about them?"

"Well, how did they track Tido down?"

"Most likely they used varren to sniff his scent back to Iochus' place." She says.

"Maybe. Agon is most likely going to prison." He says before standing up ready to leave, "How is the search for docking information going?"

Yentha sighs as she opens her console, "Nothing so far. They could be here already for all I know. I'll keep you posted on that. They won't let the death of Cardi go without an explanation."

"Do you think they'll go after Magnusson?"

"Not again. Besides, they're more likely to find out about Rhea's involvement sooner if they hack into C-Sec records." She says before looking at Brutagus seeing the expression on the turians face, "You put it in. Do they know?"

"I informed the Executor on my suspicions. Rhea is a suspect in the kidnapping, which Magnusson said during the investigation though they don't know the reason for why I suspected it." He explains.

"They may track her down?" Yentha puts forward though seeing the advantage to them.

"Possibly, but I'd better get going to the Executor for an update, see you later." He says before leaving the room.

The Bloodtower on Korlus is witnessing and new day as its sun creeps over the horizon but salarians are already awake by this time and Sedath was no different as he sits in his chair and is now busier than ever as he has to constantly watching the new fleet that has been amassed by Krinal and his operation. The ships are hundreds in number and are led by the reaper-inspired Zenith, their own dreadnaught. Not only this but Sedath has to keep an eye upon each of his agents out on the field as Juna was currently on the Citadel and Sintarrio was just entering the system. The salarian sees a light approaching the tower as the spike-form of Sintarrio was just returning from his mission as he transforms and enters the elevator to the top floor.

Sedath turns and stands as Sintarrio enters, "Well done, Sintarrio. You work on Illium was well received by the Emissary."

The turian nods, "Of course, search and destroy is my speciality. There were no survivors but not are all accounted for."

"We know some agents were not present, but we have sent Acolytes to find them." He says before walking past him the turian following, "Come, we have to greet some old friends."

The two of them head towards the elevator as a Scythe transport is landing on the port below. When the two have reached the level they exit and the doors to the shuttle opens to reveal a few faces thought gone from the organisation due to their last mission on Tuchanka. It was Filestra, Delphine and Yox, all in what remains of their armour and the krogan isn't happy to see the salarian as he is about to charge him. Though he successful in getting up close, Sintarrio does what he is ordered to and uses his enhanced strength to lift the krogan and flings him back towards the feet of the other two acolytes, who are not impressed with their superior either.

"Half a year we were on Tuchanka. You abandoned us!" States Filestra as she stays put weary of him.

Delphine continues, "No food, no weapons to use. We had to eat varren to survive and evade the krogan! Then get off world before Filestra died of starvation, but that was hard as well."

"I though your friend would be able to transport you off world?"

"Weyrloc don't play nice with those in Clan Gatatog, you slimed piece of fucking shit." Yox states as he gets up and rips a piece of his armour off.

Sedath raises his eyebrows, "Charming. Well, you better get back to your quarters and enjoy the comfort of your homes."

"Home, yeah right." Filestra says brushing past him.

Sintario waits for the elevator doors to shut before speaking, "I didn't think the Emissary had more use for them?"

"Krinal doesn't waist agents, but constant failure isn't tolerated. It was a way of making them more determined to succeed." Sedath states.

"I see. Do you think it has worked?"

Sedath smiles, "Most likely. With the possible consolation prize being death they won't want to fail again."

Sintarrio turns to his superior, "What am I to do now?"

Sedath looks towards the sky and the sun climbs into it, "Well the Emissary has his fleet deep in the Terminus. Krinal wants you to keep them in line. You are to report to the Zenith until either I or the Emissary says otherwise." Before Sintarrio is about to leave Sedath stops him one more time, "Oh, by the way. You fellow partner in this assignment will meet you aboard."

"Understood." He says before taking a run and jumping back into his spiked-form, blasting off back into space.

Brutagus is in the docking bay of the Citadel, within the presidium ring and at the dock where Agon's crew are residing as their ships have been unable to leave the station due to Norim's actions. The doors leading to these ships are currently being monitored and guarded by C-Sec officers carrying rifles encase something gets out of hand.

The spectre watches the guards and calculates the best time to enter unnoticed though he doesn't get anywhere as other than them he is the only one in the bay. Instead he pulls out his pistol and opens the top, taking two darts from a pouch on his armour and placing them inside the barrel of the weapon. He doesn't waste time as he fires the weapon twice each dart entering the officer's necks and knocking them out for prolonged time. He then proceeds to enter the docking bay but is unfortunately meet by many of the krogan.

These krogan all wore the same black and bronze armour yet had varieties of crest colours and tattoo patterns on them. They don't have weapons but there are a few holding some varren on leashes, ready to pounce on the turian. Brutagus notices that the fact that he is still holding his pistol is the reason for the varren acting out on him because they sensed that he is dangerous but settle as he puts it in his holster.

"I'm looking for your leader?" he says to the group.

One krogan with an orange crest and white tattoos steps forward, "Well your looking in the wrong place."

"Ecroy, stand down." A voice says from the back as the other krogan part ways in respect as a krogan with a green crest and with marks branded into it approaches. Unlike the others, he is also wearing a black cape both front and back with a silver trim and a symbol on it. The symbol is a circle with a bronze spot and a triangle encircling from the bottom and pointing downwards, like a torch. The krogan looks at Brutagus and puts his arm out, "Good to see you again, Oristar."

"Thank you. Your friend Agon has been arrested." He informs.

He smiles, "Agon was just being brash like his father was. He wanted to leave like the rest of us and return home. His cohorts have returned however and have given me the run-down of what happened."

"Well, things have gotten complicated. The Pallin they saw wasn't him, it was someone in disguise. The varren however, I need one to help track down Tido, Lord Tovoh."

Tovoh nods, "Tido, the mercenary. We've heard of him before and his reputation gives him credit. Are you trying to track him?"

"No, the person he escaped with. An asari called Rhea."

Tovoh hears the name and recounts hearing it before, "Yes. Agon mentioned her while he was on Omega five years ago, along with another. I believe we may have a common goal." The elder krogan indicates one of the tamers to give him the leash, "Take this varren, the scent he has on Tido is still fresh as he was trying to escape for a while. I would start where Agon was arrested. Ecroy, accompany him."

Ecroy nods and obeys as he stands by the Spectre's side, "Yes, my lord Tovoh."

"Keep me updated on your progress and protect Brutagus with your life." Tovoh says before getting a nod from the other krogan. He turns back to Brutagus, "It was good seeing you again."

Tido and Rhea are waiting outside of the crate and within the warehouse as INC continues its programming of the shuttle. They have been waiting for ten hours by now and the asari is getting restless while the drell is lying on a crate with no care in the world about the recent events, though Norim is still on his mind. Rhea is writing in a message on her omni-tool and sending it to the Migrant fleet feeling that it is their best bet of hiding away from not just the Scythe but all who are after them.

"There, the Migrant Fleet now has my message. Took me long enough."

"Well, I hope your right because I don't fancy dying from a quarian gunship. It wouldn't be the best way to go." Tido says taking a smoke.

Rhea shuts off her omni-tool, "You know when I last saw you, you were with another. A quarian, called Chek I think. Maybe you friend will give you a good word."

"Chek and I don't talk anymore." Tido says with some distain.

"Really, you seemed to work well together. What happened?" she recalls

"Me and Chek'Malal were some of the mercenaries with the more infamous reputations, meaning we got the best paid jobs that no one would do. We worked together for ten years until after that whole K-Thousand incident."

"Why did killing it split you two up?"

"Well, turns out that Chek wasn't just hanging around me for pay. He told me that the Migrant Fleet sent him on his pilgrimage but he had no intention of going back, that was until something happened."

"And what was this something?" Rhea asks even more interested.

"I'll tell you some other time. Besides, we've got more pressing issues." His says changing the subject.

"Like?"

He faces her and smiles, "Like asking more about you. You know enough about me, Rhea. I like to know more about you."

"You know what I'm accused of."

"But I don't think you did it." He sits up and rubs her arm a little, "You're too pretty for that sort of killing."

She immediately pushes it away, "Get you hand of me. And you're right, I didn't kill that turian General."

"It was only a compliment." He says lying back down.

"In a creepy way, yes. Forget it." Rhea takes a few steps away.

"Don't worry. You asari are beautiful, but you're not fools. I know. I've seen people fall for their charms too easily. You know, I've even seen once an asari that could kill you during the melding process. What are those ones called again? Anyway, what I'm saying is-"

"Interruption: I have managed to almost complete the programming process but I am detecting someone approaching this warehouse." INC states.

"What readings?" Rhea takes out her pistol.

"Answer: A dozen drell, including the one called Norim."

Tido sits up and stands, "Alright, let's finish this."

"Hang on. How did they find us?" she asks the drone.

"Source: Unknown." It states just as much in the dark.

"Okay, we can't hide and they know we're here. INC, continue the programming and speed up. Tido, I'll find a way to detract them from the front while you pick some of them off." She says before taking out a small syringe and passes it to Tido, "Here's something to ease the pain in your leg."

Tido injects the painkiller as the two split up with him going through the back entrance where they came from. The drell creeps around the warehouse and observes as Rhea hides behind a crate of the now exposed opening and fires from time to time, picking off one of a dozen of Norim's men shooting in her general direction. He takes his sniper rifle and begins preparation to pick off the others and supporting her.

Rhea however shoots one of the drell in the leg from behind the crate though she relinquishes her cover to attack Norim's position by the air-cars they came in. The drell ducks undercover behind the vehicle and waits for her shooting to stop as he signals his men to close in when she has stopped. This plan is set into motion immediately while Rhea waits for Tido to do his part but unknown to her, Tido is a spot of bother of his own as one of his shots misses Norim, his chosen target.

Tido has a varren on his back and is wrestling with it as he manages to pull out a pistol and shoots it before getting up, only to be hit in the stomach by Ecroy with Brutagus holding his pistol ready to kill him. The turian decides that he would take him around the building and enforce a checkmate as Rhea would most likely give up when she sees her ally in a compromised position.

As Rhea sees the drell close in on her, she makes a run for the inside but this is short lived as she sees Ecroy and Brutagus entering with Tido and the drell is pushed onto his knees. Rhea does the same willingly while the drell led by Norim enter the room and keep their pistols pointed at both of them. Ecroy keeps vigilant as Brutagus steps in front of them, "Rhea, it's been a long time. Bad thing you did, kidnapping Magnusson and torturing him."

"Whose this guy?" Tido asks and unsure.

"I'm Oristar Brutagus, Special Tactics and Recon." He says with pride.

The drell rolls his eyes, "Great. A fucking Spectre, nice friends you have."

Brutagus tilts his head, "And…Tido, your bounty will be a good payoff, seeing that most of the underworld would prefer you dead. But it seems that Norim has gotten first choice."

"You won't get away this time, fucker." Norim states as he reloads his pistol for this honour.

Tido laughs, "You helping this guy, that's low even for a Spectre."

Brutagus turns to Ecroy, "We have to wait for the transport to pick them both up. Tido will clear Agon's name and you can get off this place."

"Good, but can I ask you a question?" Ecroy wanders.

"What?"

"Do you know Tovoh?" he asks.

"What do you mean-?" he sasy before Ecroy plants a rifle bullet in his knee.

With that shot to Brutagus' knee a frag grenade is then hurled from the shadows as it takes out some of the drell standing guard causing the others to fire in the direction of its source. It was Garahie who reveals himself and takes out two more of the drell before leaving the heavy work to Ecroy, who is firing shots left, right and centre. He seems to be using it to scare them off and it is working with Norim is holding Brutagus and escorting him towards the air-cars. Ecroy stands at the warehouse doors and fires a shot at the vehicle with the two hiding behind it. Brutagus thrusts himself into the car while he is followed by Norim and the driver takes off, being followed by their other two cars.

Ecroy waits for them to leave his eyes site before turning back and seeing Garahie now putting his hands up with Tido and Rhea holding their pistols, "Seems we have a problem?"

Tido speaks on their behalf, "No shit, we have a krogan with face paint and a C-Sec officer here. Why did you save us?"

"Something didn't add up." Garahie claims.

Rhea shakes her head, "Nothing adds up these days, what's going on?"

"Agon stated in his interview that another C-Sec officer was present when he wasn't, I knew and Brutagus knew." The salarian states knowing it was truth.

"So he's a liar." Tido says.

Ecrroy is quick to refute that however, "No he's not, Commander Agon doesn't lie about such things and two of his team saw the same thing.

"I decided to bend the rules and use a bug to get the conversation between Agon and Brutagus, they knew each other before. It was a risk but I had to find out why." Garahie says knowing it would risk his job.

The krogan continues, "So he came to me and my superior, Lord Tovoh. Turns out Agon had saved Brutagus' life a few years ago according to Tovoh but he was the only member of our people he ever met. The salarian told Tovoh to act as if he knew Brutagus to see if anything would happen. Brutagus acted as if he knew Tovoh."

Garahie and Ecroy have convinced them enough to lower their weapons as Garahie continues, "When Ecroy and his varren tracked you down I followed and because there was still a truce between the drell of Norim's and the krogan, Brutagus signalled them. But in truth we know that he was investigating you still."

"So what are you saying?" Rhea asks curiously.

Garahie sigh before speaking, "Brutagus is still in the Presidium right now. That one was a fake."

Garahie was right as the turian inside Norim's car was not the spectre they thought as the shape changes form back to Juna, who holds her knee and the drell inside can see the armour slowly repairing itself over the metallic insides of the turian female. Her expression is of disgust and disappointment as she looks out of the window and doesn't want to be spoken to though the silence will be short as she knows that this was unplanned but when it comes to Rhea, things normally go array. Norim relaxes however and even though Tido is alive, he won't have to worry if he escapes as the drell under his command won't question him now.

"What now?" Norim asks.

Juna looks at him, "What now? I have to tell my superior about my failure and yours. But no worries, I managed to download some of data from that shuttle inside. They'll be easy to track." She says smiling.

"So you can kill Tido?" Norim asks, exited.

"The drell will be dealt with, as well as T'Anya and those two who helped her." She says while opening her communicator that links straight to Sedath on Korlus. The hologram forms and Sedath's face is one of curiosity. "Sedath, Rhea is currently in the company of the mercenary Tido."

"Strange choice. What happened?"

"I failed because the krogan betrayed us and sided with her, as well as salarian C-Sec officer." She says before finishing on a positive, "But I managed to secure their shuttle's diagnostics. They'll be easier to find now."

"Well, seems that your task wasn't a complete failure." Sedath pauses for a second, "The Emissary wishes for you to head to the Zenith, the C-Sec officer and the krogan will be taken care of."

Krinal has become more secretive since Sovereign is watching its every move. The reaper towering over it via hologram as Krinal currently is ordering the Scythe drones to move a hovering slab into the centre of the room. On top was a smooth casket with a sheet covering the contents. The dark room immediately fills itself with light as the machine takes the cover off and opens the casket to reveal a body.

The body was just a muscular system though the muscles were light grey and the features were distinctly male. It examines the eyes, which were jet black as Krinal uses its talons on his left hand to pick the eyeball from the socket. Looking at the eye closely with the machine's three eyes, Krinal observes it though this was of no interest to him and discards it.

Krinal turns to its superior, "Finally, K-Thousand has been perfected. Those clones created on the Citdael were worthless."

"Organic beings are always imperfect." The Reaper states.

Krinal's movement become more sluggish, "Of course, but now we have what we need. A clone fresh like this can further the designs we developed."

"How many have been successfully created?"

"Enough. Besides, the fleet is ready and with the final part of my plan coming into fruition. We shall not need Krieg anymore." The machine states.

"Despite the life-form having no purpose in your plans, it still has purpose in ours."

Krinal turns and nods, "I understand?"

"The body was built for its value." Sovereign reveals though remains elusive in its intentions.

The next day at the C-sec Academy many officers are gathering around to hear the news of something big that has happened as Garahie is back in his office though the doors are shut. The reason is because in the room nearby, Pallin is inside interviewing someone he has never exchange words with before though has seen him on occasion. It was Tido sitting in a restraining chair though how he got into this position was unknown. He was arrested by Garahie according to the data the turian has in front of him and smiles as they have finally caught the guy who can string this investigation together.

"I'm surprised that Garahie managed to arrest you." Pallin states.

Tido chuckles, "Well, he must be a good officer. Listen, if you want the scoop on the whole Iochus business then it was me."

"Really." The turians says delighted.

Tido continues, "It wasn't Agon. Me and him got into some sort of argument and he got a bit out of hand but, well, as an eye-witness, he left before the murders happened. But you were there though."

Pallin looks straight towards him with nothing to hide, "No I wasn't. I heard the story about there being another me but Garahie and the Spectre will back me on that."

Tido shrugs in his chair, "Of course, you're calmer than your counterpart. That Pallin was hell-bent on finding me, even violent."

"So you're saying that Agon had nothing to do with the murders?"

"Yes, he left before it happened. The only people in there were the 'false' you, Norim and me. By the way, he wasn't the one who killed Ferrul in an exchange." Tido says before relaxing and almost too comfortable

"Well your original statement was enough to release Agon twenty minutes ago but I don't think you're going anywhere."

"Okay." The drell replies getting the last word.

Pallin doesn't care however and smiles as he walks outside to see something else that he didn't expect today. He sees a crowd forming around an open office of Garahie's and investigates the commotion that is forming there. He pushes through his fellow officers to see the salarian being restrained on his desk by and angry Brutagus as turian punches him in the face.

Pallin is the first to attempt to stop him as Brutagus anticipates and blocks the turian's punch before back-fisting him into the wall. Brutagus takes an object from his pouch revealing it to be the tracer that Garahie planted on him.

"Where is she?" Brutagus asks referring to Rhea.

"Where is who?" Garahie asks lying to the spectre.

Brutagus grabs the salarian by the neck, "Don't bullshit me! I heard you arrested Tido, which means that you must have seen her too."

"I don't know…who you are talking about…I swear." Garahie claims though the strangling of the turian is tight.

Brutagus waits for Pallin to get back on his feet taking his cuffs and putting his hands behind his back, "Pallin, I'm arresting this officer for using illegal methods and withholding important information."

Pallin looks at Garahie then back at the Spectre, "What did he do?"

The other turian passes the bug to the C-Sec officer and realises that this was a C-Sec tracer used to tackle gangs, "He bugged me and tracked my movements as well as cooperated in an operation without your consent."

"Garahie, is this true?" he asks though the expression of salarian proves his guilt. Pallin looks away and feels betrayed, "Take him away and Tido too."

Brutagus gets up close, "I'm taking them both off your hands."

Pallin is taken aback by Brutagus' actions, "What! Tido is our arrest."

"But is actions must be trialled by the Council, not a court. I'm putting this one in the cells for now. Transport them to the main hold later today and they'll be trialled tomorrow. Good day." He says before escorting Garahie out for his fellow C-Sec officers to see confused and disgusted at what has just transpired.

Within the shuttle that Tido was intending to use with Rhea, the asari currently sits in the pilot's chair as Ecroy sits next to her. INC was behind and was monitoring the situation at C-Sec. The two of them wait patiently as it seems that this was a set-up all along to get Agon out while there intentions aren't clear as of yet.

"Update: Agon has been released and Tido and Garahie are in C-Sec custody." INC informs prompting Rhea to regain focus.

"Tido's a criminal. Why are you going to break him out?" Ecroy asks to Rhea.

She acknowledges this but shrugs to the krogan, "I don't know. He gave us a way off the Citadel but he could be useful to us. It's not every day that you gain allies."

Ecroy understands to a point but accepts it for what it is as he pulls his rifle and places it on his lap, "So are we doing this?"

Rhea smiles, "Yeah. Let's break them out."


	30. Alliances Made and Severed

**Chapter XXX: Alliances Made and Severed**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea is lying in her bed yawning loudly as her eyes open slowly to meet the dark ceiling of her room. The asari has gotten enough sleep for now as she is currently in hiding and must be forever vigilant. Sitting up, she rubs her eyes and reaches toward the bedside table for a glass of water and taking a light sip before standing and stretching her joints. The en-suit to her room is just a few steps as a way as she walks up and steps into the shower with the water flowing when stepping inside. Unknown to her that Joker himself is already up and sitting at the table within the kitchen and making himself something to eat with the food available, lucky for him there was eggs in the fridge.

Rhea walks out wearing clothing as she sees the human and smiles, "You're up early."

"Well, when your pretty much captive, you tend to not get much sleep." Joker says though with a bit of humour.

Rhea smiles as she sits down, "So, how have you liked your little adventure so far?"

"Adventure? I was in a bar, then talking to you, then in this place. I don't thing that can live up to recent things I've done." He says referring to the events with Saren and the Collectors. "You however seem to be having one hell of an adventure."

"Believe me. I haven't been exactly moving these past few years." She states and refers to her time in Purgatory.

"Well you certainly know how to get Cerberus' attention." He says.

"Cerberus is fairly recent compared to the Scythe. They did more to affect my life than Cerberus ever could." Rhea says brushing the threat off.

"Oh, how were they worse?" Joker asks leaning against the counter.

"Well Sintarrio is the first example. A person dies with no trace of the body then comes back as a machine. He wasn't the only one by then. I left Eden Prime and found myself on the Citadel again, this time I was able to hide much better from everyone."

"How?" Joker wonders.

She smiles, "It was a big place with more people, unlike the human colonies at the time. The Alliance came after me and I fled but one of their officers became tied into it. I couldn't get any information out of him so I originally planned to escape and carry on my quest to find Krieg."

"Getting of the Citadel undetected, that's near impossible." Joker says and knowing being a pilot but has done it himself.

She nods, "Near impossible, yes. But I found an unlikely ally, Tido."

Joker remembers what Rhea said about Tido and how he killed the Krieg clone with Chek and Yanlo, "That drell you mentioned?"

"The very same. You see, he was good at hiding himself and had an emergency way of getting off the place. He had a shuttle but the circumstances that led us to cross paths left him in a spot of bother. Agon, from Omega was on the Citadel as well and got blamed for the murder of some drell in the 800 blocks." She mentions though knows the truth behind it.

Joker takes it in and paces himself before asking another question, "So what happened next? Did you leave the krogan to rot?"

"No actually, turns out Krinal had more resources than we realised and using similar methods as used with Sintarrio, he bought Juna back as well." She reveals to him though she was thought dead after the incident last time on she was on Citadel.

"Juna? That sounds heavy, even for you." Joker replies not sure whether to believe it.

She nods as she takes a cigarette and lights it, "I know. But unlike Sintarrio, she was given a type of material that allowed her the mimic physical and vocal appearances of other turians. She murdered those drell and intended to manipulate the krogan and drell to kill Tido and me when we attempted to escape."

"But she failed?" Joker wanders otherwise they wouldn't be talking.

"Yes, thanks to the intelligence of a salarian named Garahie. He figured out possible movements of Juna as she impersonated the spectre Brutagus and asked for help from the krogan. The thing was the krogan knew she wasn't Brutagus."

"Whoa, sounds really confusing." Joker says trying to get his head around all this.

Rhea laughs, "It was at the time. Ecroy, the krogan sent with her turned on her when they got to our location though Agon was still being held by C-Sec."

"What did you do? Surely breaking into C-Sec would be suicide. They're quite the force if you ask me."

Rhea leans and take quick smoke before answering, "They were, so we devised a plan. Tido let Garahie arrest him and take him back to C-Sec and confessing would let Agon go free, even though he didn't do it. When they did, Agon was informed on what was happening by his superior who was also in on it. Unplanned in operation was that Garahie was arrested too, this time by Brutagus for planting an unauthorised bug on him. Brutagus took both Garahie and Tido and they were being transported to the high security cells, where criminals face the Council personally. INC, Ecroy and myself chose our moment to free them."…

**17/04/2160- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Inside a transport about to enter the Presidium Ring Tido sits with his hands cuffed behind his back and even though he is in a rough spot he seems calm. The reason is because he knows that he is about to be rescued by Rhea and Ecroy though the means is yet to be explained. Opposite him is Garahie in the same position and because he was is being suspected of at least seeing Rhea in his travels across the station, Brutagus has ordered his arrest as well though turian doesn't know how deep he is at this time.

The transport itself has entered the presidium's inner ring and on its way to the tower itself though there is only one entrance to the structure, near the embassies. There is no one else inside of the transport though there is a pilot in the front and a turret on the top controlled via a VI. There are four C-Sec air-cars on each side of the transport, showing the seriousness of getting these two to the Council and sentencing them.

Garahie sighs, "I didn't think I would get arrested. How did Brutagus know I put it on him?"

"He would have found it eventually, he's smart. I think he's just pissed off because you outsmarted him, and got to Rhea before he did." Tido states.

"You've met him before?" the salarian asks.

Tido shakes his head, "No, but I've heard about him in Terminus. Likes to play the game and waits for the moment to strike."

He groans after those words, "I can't go to trial. Sure, I did something illegal but-"

"It isn't because of the bug you planted. Brutagus must have been looking for Rhea for months, even years. He'll most likely want to interrogate you."

"Great." Garahie replies unenthusiastically. His thought is distracted as a bump is heard and pushes the transport up causing them both to loose balance a little, "What was that?"

Tido smiles as he puts his legs up on the other seat, "My ride."

Garahie watches and copies but is confused as well, "Your ride? What are you talking about?"

"Just relax." He says and after that and small explosion occurs in the space between them mcausing Garahie to flinch while Tido expected it. The salarian looks down to see Tido's asari shuttle with the roof partially open and outside is Ecroy holding a mini-rocket launcher as he puts it back inside and waits for Tido. "See. Come on." Tido says as he breaks out of his cuffs miraculously and pulls Garahie forward. The salarian falls towards the opening but is caught by Ecroy and lowered inside. The salarian then rolls to the side as the drell lands on his feet. "Took your sweet time! Now let's get off this shit-heap."

Rhea is piloting at the front and flies the shuttle forwards and then goes up out of the presidium into open space where most of the fleet is waiting for them. The asari and the krogan however had another trick up their sleeve as they manage to avoid any immediate fire by heading towards a contingent of ships, owned by the krogan that Ecroy hails from. The three ships are in a V formation and the middle one opens the doors below as it is big enough to allow the shuttle to enter inside. As the ramp shuts, Rhea lands the shuttle next to the opening and watches the doors secure themselves and fill the room with enough oxygen so they can leave.

Ecroy looks at Garahie confused, "Why is the salarian with us?"

"The Spectre looking for Rhea arrested him for 'illegal stuff'. I didn't think Rhea would want a trail." Tido informs meaning that Garahie's salvation was circumstance and not planned.

"Thanks." Rhea says as she opens the doors for the others to exit.

Ecroy breaks Garahie's cuffs and lets him out, "How did you plan this? The C-Sec escort was a barrier enough."

Rhea gets out and smiles along with INC, "INC was able to scram their radars and temporarily slow them down, allowing us to free you two."

"Well, thanks. What happens now?" Garahie asks.

"Any good with a weapon?" Ecroy asks.

"Sure I am, you saw in that warehouse, right?" Garahie claims refreshing the krogan's memory.

"Well, welcome aboard. Lord Tovoh and Agon are on their way down so show some respect." He informs to all of them as the elevator to the hanger reaches its destination.

Exiting the elevator, Tovoh and Agon approach the group comprising of Rhea, INC, Tido, Garahie and a bowing Ecroy. The others look at him and find it strange for a krogan to be doing such a thing as they follow suit. Tovoh smiles and raises his hand as they relax. They notice that this krogan has a more regal look to him as he nods to them all. Agon looks at Tido and approaches him knowing that two had a recent confrontation but understand the mistake they both made in thinking that the Pallin they saw was the real one.

Agon puts his hand out, "Sorry for the inconvenience. If I would've known sooner, Norim would be dead." He says as Tido reluctantly takes his hand as he turns to his left and sees Rhea. He approaches the asari as he puts his hand out to her, "Last time I saw you, you hurled me through a window. You've come a long way since Omega."

"Sorry about that by the way." Rhea replies and smiles childishly.

Agon smiles back as he turns to face them all and introduce his superior, "Lady, gentlemen…and drone. This is Lord Tovoh, one of the High Lords of our people."

"High Lord?" Tido whispers to Garahie confused.

"The Krogan have no 'High Lords' from what I understand about them?" Rhea states.

"Among the krogan you see, we are traitors, conscientious objectors, exiles. But to us, we are the true krogan and our marks are a symbol of that." Agon states proudly to the group.

Tovoh laughs, "Agon, a krogan is a krogan. We are one of the same."

Agon bows when corrected, "Of course, my Lord."

"Come, we have much to talk about." He says as he leads them to the elevator as they enter and the doors closing and taking them to the higher levels.

The wait isn't long for the group as the doors open to reveal a room built for what looked like royalty as the end contained a throne of some kind. Tovoh walks towards the throne and sits on it getting himself comfortable while Agon sits of the lower chair to his right. The cloaked krogan presses a few buttons on his chair and some seats appear from beneath the floor, three of them for Rhea, Tido and Garahie while Ecroy walks to stand at his lord's side. The three of them sit down while INC remained hovering as they get a good look at the room in front of them. The walls were polished in a copper colour and smoothly crafted, better than most krogan ships which were normally badly kept.

"This isn't a krogan ship." Garahie remarks.

"I can assure it is." Tovoh says and catches the salarian off guard, "We take pride in all things nowadays. This is not the first time you've come into contact with us. Tido, your reputation even reaches us and the things you have done are questionable, but coming from a krogan it would seem ironic. And Rhea, you've already met Agon." Tovoh states.

"Yeah, we met on Omega." Rhea says thinking back to that time.

"Yes, well since your crossing paths with us, we have been keeping tags on you as much as possible. Your reputation as a career criminal proceeds you though from the crimes you commit and the manner you speak, you cannot be a murderer like they so claim."

"I guess I was being checked out by more than one faction." She states.

"You're lucky, the Scythe are very resourceful."

Rhea's eyes widen at those words as she stands up, "How do you-?"

"Like you asari, we krogan live long and learn many things. We've known of the Scythe for a long time, though they are appearing more nowadays." Tovoh states as he open a hologram of a scythe commando. "These asari Scythe have attempted numerous campaigns to find us and eradicate us. We're lucky that they have never found our homeworld, or should I say our new homeworld."

Rhea sits down and is ready to listen, "Who are you?"

The hologram closes as Tovoh begins, "We are krogan, and not the krogan you know but the krogan we once were. Our people are hidden from the galaxy in order to rebuild our society from the destruction that was left behind. Our location is a secret even to the Scythe but we must venture into the Terminus every so often to update on the current events."

"Why did you hide yourself?" Garahie asks interested.

"Well it started when the krogan were uplifted by you, salarian. During the time we were on Tuchanka, the world was barren and our population low but the clans still existed. When you uplifted us, krogan from many clans were selected on behalf of their leaders to act as ambassadors to the Council, the origin of the High Lords. It was us that were informed of the rachni and the war and part of our duty was to explain their plight to the clan leaders themselves."

"So you were some of the first to go the Citadel?" Rhea wanders.

"Yes. We were not just ambassadors, but warriors by nature. The Council selected us as strategists during the war, helping them in the krogan attacks as well as the asari and salarian campaigns as well. The people trusted us and their trust made us strong among the krogan, to the point that High Lord became a title itself indicating the wisdom we used during the war. We were there when the statue of the krogan was commissioned."

"Wait, so why aren't you helping them now?"

"Alas, things change. Only those who elected us truly valued what we stood for. When the war was over, we krogan got something we never expected, gratification and reward. Because we lived in a survivalist world originally, a gift was something we hadn't gotten used to. The High Lords were no longer listened to after this as the Clan Leaders took control."

"So what happened from there?" Tido asks curiously.

"The Krogan Rebellions. Though the High Lords were still recognised as a political body, we were no longer listened to by the rest of krogan, the expansion was a foolish move. We even attempted to persuade Overlord Kredak to intervene but he was chosen to represent the krogan people."

"So was he a High Lord?" Tido enquires.

"No, Kredak was elected but by the people, mainly clans. He was the Ambassador to the krogan people though we served as his council. We failed him and the krogan. When the war began, we began a new campaign. We used what resources we had and began to evacuate those who still trusted us; a small portion compared to the krogan back then but enough for viable population as we abandoned the known galaxy into the unknown." Tovoh states and ends his story.

Garahie realises something from this, "Wait, if this story is true, that means-"

"That every krogan on this ship has the ability to produce offspring, yes." Tovoh claims. "We escaped the genophage before the turians became involved in the war but we heard of what happened. Unfortunately, that was the price they paid."

"Then how come you haven't come back to help you people." The salarian wonders.

"If the Council races knew of our existence, then there would be a true genocide or another genophage. No, we must stay hidden from them." The High Lord states and knows it's the best thing.

Rhea leans back on her chair and crosses her legs, "So how does the Scythe come into this?"

Tovoh smiles, "The right question. The Majority of Scythe is asari, you know this. The Scythe was able to influence many things in politics in those days, but their greatest triumph was the manipulating the krogan into destroying the rachni, something High Lords were against. When the war was over the Scythe began a campaign to eradicate the High Lords. One by one we were killed until there was only a handful left. Lucky for us in some ways the Krogan Rebellions happened, giving us the time we needed to escape and hide. They could never reach us because we destroyed their ships and took what we could from them."

The others try to get their heads around this information and this difference in the krogan they knew was too good to be true. The fact that there was a viable population in the depths of space was both worrying and thankful at the same time though the trust that Tovoh has for them shows their differences. They all stand up and nod as they are ready to be escorted to their temporary quarters as Ecroy escorts them leaving Agon and Tovoh in the room alone.

"You never told them about the grey alien, Krieg." Agon says.

"They know enough for now." Tovoh states.

Ecroy escorts the group to the extra quarters the ship provides a floor above Tovoh's room as he walks down the hallway of the ship and presses the button to open the doors. Inside is a simple room with four beds, standard for krogan on the ship as the group get themselves acquainted. Rhea takes the bottom bunk on the left side while INC places itself above and Tido takes the top bunk on the other side, living the remaining bed for Garahie who is still in his C-Sec uniform and doesn't have anything else with him.

"Well this isn't bad." says a happy Tido as he lights a cigarette.

Ecroy looks at the drell, "What is that?"

"It's a human thing, tastes nice. Wants some?" he asks as the drell passes it Ecroy.

The krogan has trouble holding it as he examines it. Instead of taking a smoke he puts it in his mouth chews it before taking it out and putting it in nearby garbage disposal, "I can't taste anything. I'll send some food your way, see you later." He says before leaving all of them bewildered at what just happened.

A few days later and the Citadel chambers are in turmoil as the news of Tido's and Garahie's escape is the major concern of all aliens. The Council wait at their posts and alien diplomats continue to talk amongst themselves. Politicians are not the only ones within the chambers as both Yentha and Brutagus are there as well. The turian is annoyed that it has come to this and is once again two steps behind Rhea. The asari is leaning against the wall in full armour along with Brutagus though spectres are currently here to keep the peace at this time as they are all armed with weapons though the diplomats know better, and so do the Spectres.

"I still can't believe they got away." Brutagus says disappointed with himself.

"I still can't believe that salarian got to Rhea before we did." Yentha says and not helping the situation.

Brutagus turns to her and holds his head, "Yes but, our luck hasn't been exactly good."

"They're trying to hide. Finding people when you need to is always hard." She says looking down towards the chamber and waits for the Council to speak.

The Asari Councillor is first, "This emergency session has been called because you have all heard the news of the recent incident that happened on the presidium. The career criminal that is named only by Tido was brought into custody and was being transport to us, but never made it to our destination."

The Turian Councillor speaks, "The recent Spectre activity has given us the intelligence to conclude that drell criminal is now in league with Rhea T'Anya." This causes the diplomats to whisper, "Unfortunately, both Citadel Security and the Spectres have failed thus far and she has evaded capture."

The Salarian Councillor speaks, "We hereby decreed that all races within the Citadel warrant the arrest of both Rhea T'Anya and Tido. Any species that even reports sighting must directly pass this information over to the Council."

Brutagus watches as the diplomats talk amongst themselves again. He turns to Yentha, "This has made things more complicated." He states.

"Maybe." She replies as the asari leads the turian back into a hallway so they can talk more privately, "The council may take whatever research you have done in Rhea, but you still have all that data you recovered from the K-Thousand project."

Bruatgus shakes his head, "That data is dangerous. There are things in there the Council must never see."

"You haven't even shown me yet. What did you find?" Yentha asks and isn't happy to be kept in the dark, "What were the Scythe doing?"

"I barely looked but I found that the K-Thousand Project here was a Scythe operation only the Council didn't know, you know that. I only dug out a bit more but they had long term plans. They wanted to clone K-Thousand some purpose, only I don't get what. Most of the data was encrypted; I only could get what Yanlo had already dug up." Brutagus claims.

"Then we're going to have to find a way to decrypt it all." She says and leads him down some stairs back into the main hall as they pass through the others. The two of them are heading the foyer when Yentha continues, "If the data is so hard to decrypt, then they must have been hiding something."

"You'd think the K-Thousand project was secret enough. But this code is foreign, symbols I don't recognise."

"Could be Prothean?" Yentha puts forward.

"No, anyone would recognise it. This data only reveals the true nature of K-Thousand but hides much more. I suggest we go off world."

"Off the Citadel?" she asks concerned.

"It's the only way we are going to get answers." The turian states as he leads the way towards the elevator.

On the krogan ship which has been wandering the galaxy for days, Garahie, Rhea and Tido are waiting in the cargo bay where their shuttle is as Tido is taking out some of the boxes and Rhea is playing with her omni-tool. The asari is checking if her message got through the Migrant Fleet as she did have some of Zeki's personal information encase she needed to contact her. The salarian was waiting as Ecroy leaves the elevator with a large suitcase and approaches him. The tattooed krogan places the case on the shuttle and opens it for all of them to see as Garahie especially is amazed.

"Whoa. You made this on the ship?" he says.

"Yeah. Our armourer used good material and it has increased shields inside. It's a thank you for getting Agon out of that mess." Ecroy states.

He looks at the armour that's been made for him amazed by the craftsmanship. The armour was black with dark green stripes and looked like standard salarian armour though the helmet had a more menacing look to it. He was also given a pistol and sub-machine, his preferred weapons of choice as he takes the sub-machine gun and scans it for its quality.

Ecroy however looks to Rhea, "Have you managed to contact your friend?"

"No, INC has found the fleet but there on the move again." She states.

"Well let me warn you, we can't take you to our home. We just can't risk it." Ecroy says and quite rightly.

"It's okay, we'll be fine." Rhea says as she closes her omni-tool.

"Where do you plan to go?" ask Ecroy interested in their next move.

Rhea looks at INC which is just exiting the shuttle, "Well we were interested in that bombing on Illium. It sounded familiar to a Scythe attack we've accounted once. It's a long shot, but worth the search."

Tido exhales some smoke, "That place? Seriously?" he gets a nod from Rhea, "Well, I guess you're the boss."

"We'll redirect our coordinates to there; you should be able to enter Illium without trouble." Ecroy says before heading to the upper levels via the elevator.

Garahie sits on the edge of the shuttle, "You want to investigate that bombing that occurred?"

"Affirmative: Viable possibility that it may lead us to more Scythe information if data is still intact." INC claims.

"We have a transport that can go undetected and the three of us and INC will be fine." Rhea says confidently.

"Well I hope your right." Garahie says with warning.

All of their thoughts are discarded when a sound of beeping comes from the shuttles controls as the asari climbs in and opens a channel weary of who it may be. "Hello?" she says though is nervous.

"Hello…hello…Rhea?" a female voice says down the other end.

Rhea recognises the voice as she sighs in relief, "Zeki, how are you?"

"I'm fine, are you okay? I've heard about your recent activities. Were you and Krieg really thieves." She asks curiously but with a tint of excitement.

Rhea rolls her eyes in shame, "Yeah, sort of. But how are you? Did you get to Migrant Fleet okay?"

"The turians were more than helpful. Many of us were split up but I managed to get a decent position on the Rayya. So did Xera." She mentions who was a pre-pilgrimage girl who was pregnant when they met.

"Did she have the baby?" Rhea asks getting exited.

Zeki laughs, "Yes, she had a baby girl. With what we all went through, many of us were there for her. Droh, Tyon and Saan were there too."

"How is everyone?" Rhea wanders curious about the former crew.

"Tyon is working on the Neema as his engineering is needed there. Droh has joined the marines so they can be close. Saan has been working herself and is becoming a potential medic thanks to you."

Rhea smiles in delight and was fond of her, "What about Olic?"

The quarian sighs, "Nothing. He was serious about never coming back. A group of marines were sent to find him and bring him back but he doesn't want to be found. What about you? How is Krieg?"

"I wouldn't know. He went missing a few months back. He left no trace of his whereabouts in order to protect me. I'm still looking for him." Rhea reveals to her though INC knows where the alien went.

"Well he hasn't been with us but you called for another reason, didn't you?" Zeki says knowing there is more to this conversation.

The asari is hesitant at first, "Yes, I was looking for a place to stay for a while. I need to keep out of sight."

"Sorry Rhea but the Migrant fleet knows of you now, they won't let get within a parsec of us." Zeki replies though disappointed of their actions.

Rhea nods, "I see. What about you?"

"Me, I get by here. Not much to do except the same routine." Zeki reveals giving a hint of life on a quarian ship.

Rhea understands a little, "Well, I know this seems forward but do you want to help me out. I'm heading to Illium to research into those asari that held us hostage on Intai'sei."

"Really? But I can't, they wouldn't let me go that easily." She says disappointed.

"Do they know what happened on the planet?" she asks her.

"Yes, but that's why they are staying away from that sort of thing nowadays. After what happened to the Xun-Xun and at the refugee camp, the Migrant Fleet has had a clamp down on ships tagging behind."

"I see. But surely you can come with us?" Rhea states.

"What? Another women on our little quest, please." Tido says patting Garahie on the shoulder though the salarian isn't impressed.

"Who was that?" Zeki immediately asks hearing the voice of the drell.

Tido climbs forward to speak, "Names Tido. I'm sure you've heard of my exploits."

"Is that…"

"Yes, yes it is." She replies before whispering to Tido, "You know, being wanted on numerous planets isn't considered a good thing?"

"I would have to talk to my Captain. It may take a while though." Zeki says.

She smiles and is happy about the news, "Don't worry. We won't leave you stranded on a strange world. Call me as soon as you can."

"Will do. Rhea, it was good talking to you again." She finally says before closing the channel and leaving the three of them and INC to themselves.

Rhea turns to the group, "Well, we could be having an addition ally."

"Can she be trusted?" asks Tido.

"She can. Besides you've worked with a quarian before?" Rhea states knowing about him.

"Yeah, I know." he says reluctantly before changing the subject, "Anyway, how long until we get to Illium?"

"I don't think I will be that long. A few days maybe, depends on Tovoh." She replies as she looks over to Garahie who has now put on his full armour, "Comfortable?"

"Very, even the STG wouldn't get something as good as this." Garahie claims putting the krogan in favour.

Another beeping comes from the controls as Rhea immediately presses the button, "Hello?"

"It's Agon. The High Lord wishes to see you all." The voice states.

"Okay. We're on our way." She says before closing the channel, "Come on. We'd better go see what he wants."

In Tovoh's chambers. Many krogan from the ship have gathered on behalf of the High Lord and wait in lines towards the edge while Agon and Ecroy are on his right side. Tovoh sits on his throne and awaits the presence of the aliens but this current formation of krogan is unclear. The three of them and their drone enter via the elevator and surprised to see this many krogan, standing to attention as the group walk forward and look up towards Tovah and his two fellow Krogan.

"I understand you wish to go to Illium. We have granted that request but we ask something in return." Tovoh states.

Rhea crosses her arms, "What is that?"

Tovoh answers, "That one of our own goes with you, Ecroy."

"Why do you want him to come with us?" Rhea asks surprised as she was expecting a heavier type of request.

"Like you, we have history with the Scythe and I believe that with you we can learn more than ever about them. Ecroy will update us on your progress and any new information you discover, we will have it as well." Tovoh says as Ecroy joins them.

"Well. I'm I going to need as many allies as I can."

"Excellent. We will arrive at Illium as soon as possible. We cannot officially land, but your shuttle can." Tovoh explains.

"Thank you." She says the now five strong group exits and continues their recent activities.

A week later on Korlus and the Bloodtower is much busier than usual as many Acolytes are returning on orders from Krinal itself though they are currently in the company of Sedath as the salarian waits patiently and watches the mouths of the various aliens recruited over the years. Among them are Delphine, Yox, Filestra and Dogar, who by his body language is still grieving the loss of his wife at the hands of Krieg. The night sky is the perfect setting as two holograms appear of Sintarrio and Juna who are both at this very moment aboard the Zenith along with the various pirate and criminal ships that make up Krinal's new fleet. Sedath stands and joins the group as his chair fills with a hologram of Krinal.

"Acolytes, you are the back-bone of my operations in the galaxy. I picked you because I saw potential in you all but now your real test is about to begin. You are aware of the one called Rhea T'Anya, and her grey friend known as Krieg. He has upset many of you some way or the other but the time has come for it to end." Krinal states.

Sedath is the first to speak on behalf of the dozens of operatives, "What are your orders, Emissary?"

"The quest for Krieg has been hindered by our supremacist counterpart, the Disciples. The Duchess herself has ordered the execution of Krieg in order to prevent us in using it. From this day forth we are the Scythe no longer, for we are made of the best of all races and not just one. Sedath, organise the Acolytes into extermination squads and send them to destroy all of the Scythe Chapters in the Galaxy."

"What of the Duchess?" Sedath asks.

"Her location is unknown to everyone but me. Destroy the other chapters so there is no one left to seek revenge." Krinal leans back, "When this is complete. Our plans will move forward." It states before the hologram disappears. However Krinal turns around in its chair to face Sovereign, "Nazara, your orders are given. What is our next move?"

"We must allow organic life to humour themselves in their chaotic nature. When there is nothing left, I will return to you." It states before disappearing itself.

Krinal gets off its chair and looks at the body that still on the slab which is a skinned clone of Krieg and the exact clone it had been perfecting since he got the samples it needed form the K-Thousand project. It uses one of its fingers to pierce the exposed skull and begins to take small synthetic chips and carefully, one by one it implants four into the corpse. It turns and brings up a screen to discover the current location of Rhea, provided by Juna's cunning of placing a tracker on their shuttle. Krinal notices that they are within the Crescent Nebula and uses its synthetic nature to send the information to Sedath.

On Illium, the shuttle is traveling through the freeways while inside are the group consisting of Rhea in the pilot's chair and Ecroy is shotgun. Garahie and Tido are in the back with INC and because the shuttle can carry around twelve there is plenty of space for the two. Tido is lying on a few chairs while the salarian is currently searching his omni-tool for an appropriate location to stay and keep out of sight.

The group pull out of the freeway and eventually arrive at their location parking themselves in a nearby parking lot. It was a hotel though it wasn't as hidden as they would have liked but because Illium has a dark reputation this wasn't out of the ordinary. Rhea walks to the back as she and Ecroy meet the others.

"Doesn't this place seem a bit too exposed?" asks Garahie.

Rhea nods, "Well that's the thing? We're all going in as separate people. INC has given us each a new identity to go under."

"Wait, you mean I have to pretend to be someone else?" Tido wanders not liking the idea.

"You won't. You're staying here." Rhea says.

Tido is offended by this, "What? Why?"

"You are too volatile to let out. You'll cause trouble and Ecroy's markings might attract attention." Rhea states.

"Fuck!" Tido shouts as he knows it's the truth but doesn't like being left out.

"Shut up. It's the only way we won't be spotted." Ecroy says before throwing them each a small device, "I'm giving you each a communicator that has a channel only between us so we can talk to each other with no interception."

"Me and Rhea can't go in dressed like this?" Garahie claims as they were all wearing armour.

"Don't worry. I have some clothes I can wear and I managed to collect some salarian clothes while still on the Citadel." She says and reassures the nervous salarian who has been pushed into this position.

"What about protection? Encase something happens." Ecroy asks in the event of the unpredicted.

"We'll each carry a piece and that's it." She says and looking for agreement from the salarian.

Ecroy turns to the comfortable drell and kicks the bottom his chair to catch his attention, "Tido, we'll find this Scythe base while they get comfortable."

"Information: I have been ordered to enter the base and map out the area to check for possible threats." INC explains.

The drell nods, "Okay, let's do this. You better get changed." Tido says as he looks at Rhea and smiles.

Rhea looks at the drell with a glare, "Out." She says referring to all of them as Ecroy opens the door and escorts them and leaving her in there alone with INC, who she could trust.

Tido leans against the shuttle and continues to smoke while Garahie waits his turn to change. Ecroy looks out to the Illium skyline of huge skyscrapers and thinks about the marvel that asari have built for themselves. While they keep to themselves, Rhea is changing into casual dress which consists of a standard skirt worn by most asari though this isn't too revealing compared to some of the other wears she has had. She also picks up a suitcase which carries her pistol and some other things that may be useful as she turns to INC.

"You be careful." She says to INC like a friend would as she opens the door and they both exit so Garahie can change.

Meanwhile on Omega, both Brutagus and Yentha are recounting the steps that were taken by Rhea and Krieg when they first met with the belief that coming to the station would help them find clues to their missing fugitive. They are within the Omega markets not far from Afterlife as they sit at the local restaurant and are currently awaiting their orders to come from the counter. A batarian brings over their food as the pair prepares themselves for a meal while conversing about their recent exploration.

"So, what have you found?" Brutagus asks with a keen eye watching the people.

Yentha takes a piece of her meal and eats it before answering, "Well, the locals don't know much but I have had some luck with the local gangs here."

"Really, do tell." Brutagus leans back.

"Well. Five years ago, apparently Aria took a huge portion of station that was controlled by Eclipse and Bloodpack gangs." Yentha explains.

The turian raises and eyebrow, "We're looking for Rhea."

The asari smiles and leans in, "That's just the thing. The Bloodpack were more than helpful. They said that the guy who used to run the Bloodpack here, a krogan called Grav who was in talks with a tattooed krogan, guess who?"

Brutagus thinks back to recent events, "Agon? Why?"

"I don't know but he double-crossed them and killed Grav. Now they are out for his blood but haven't had any success. They've also mentioned that both they and the Eclipse lost many troops to both Agon and the actions of some strange alien."

He leans in and smiles, "K-Thousand? They must have been here first. But why would Rhea be on Omega? It doesn't seem right."

Yentha gives a disappointed look, "I couldn't find that out. They did say that Agon wasn't the only one to double-crossed them. Aria is also a part of this."

"Aria? What does she have to do with it?" he wanders and eats some of his meal.

"Well apparently, it was Aria who devised the plan with both the Bloodpack and Eclipse and when it was set in motion she betrayed them and let the rest take care of itself. She gained a lot of control and the gangs are still rebuilding their ranks." She explains as Krieg's, Aria's and Agon's actions are still having an effect.

"Maybe Eclpise will be useful too?" He puts forward.

"I doubt it. Not many of the Eclipse in the operation survived, except one. An asari named Fayla. She killed the local boss and joined Aria after." She states as Fayla being the only other person who survived Krieg's awakening.

"Seems we'll have to pay her a visit." He says before taking another piece of his meal and eating it.

Rhea sits in her room which is much nicer than the rooms she has stayed in over the years as Illium has given her the chance to relax. This is where it all started for Rhea as the Eclipse that would be responsible for finding Krieg had recruited her here and this is where her life changed forever. She takes a look at the skyline of buildings while the sun is setting though her thoughts are ever cluttered with worries and doubts.

She walks up to the bar and pours herself a glass of wine courtesy of the hotel as she takes a sip and puts the glass down when the sound of her communicator goes off. One of her new allies is calling. She reaches for it and places it close so she can hear.

"Ecroy?" she wanders.

"Rhea, we've finished mapping the initial defences where the Scythe had been hiding. It's a big place and very well hidden from others."

"So, INC managed to get a lot from its scouting."

"This mission will be continued tomorrow by the look of it. INC suggests that we continue for a few days as it indicates that there are many levels not explored."

"Okay, we'll continue with the operation tomorrow. Thanks Ecroy." She says about cut the channel.

"Well that's not all. Tido's gone missing?" the krogan states and catches her attention again.

This sentence catches Rhea off her trail of thought and is disbelieved by it, "Tido's gone missing?"

"Yeah, after we parked the shuttle in the hiding spot he jumped out and left his communicator with us so we couldn't track him."

"Fucking bastard." Rhea shouts annoyed.

"I resent that!" says a familiar voice as she turns to see Tido himself at the bar now pouring himself a drink and takes a sip.

"Don't worry, he's here. I send him back in a few minutes." She cuts the channel and immediately approaches the drell, "What are you doing here?"

"Well knowing you and Garahie are living luxury got me a little bit jealous." He says before having a quick smoke, "So I thought that I'll come up and help myself."

"Get out!" Rhea says taking his drink off him.

Tido doesn't take her seriously as he sits down on a stool, "Why? I'm stuck with you whether I like it or not, but it's a two way street. I provided you with a way of the Citadel, and you stop me from being executed, most likely."

"That still doesn't mean I don't trust you." Rhea says.

Tido exhales before speaking, "No one ever has. Just because you've lived longer than me, doesn't mean you know everything. Especially about me."

Rhea is distracted then as Tido raises his left hand begins rubbing her arm gently, "What are you doing?"

Tido is looking towards her chest and then looks up, "Touching you. Admiring what a beautiful woman you are."

She leans in close and glares, "I don't know what your game is, but I'm not buying it."

"I didn't ask you buy into it. I don't ask for anything." He says before pulling her in and locking his lips with her. The kiss is long enough as Rhea pushes herself off and looks at him with disgust but Tido laughs at this. "Whoa, that felt like you were enjoying it for a second."

She rubs her lips with her fingers like germs were on them, "You're a creep, a no-life piece of shit who I'm stuck with."

Tido stands up and begins to approach her, "You make that sound like it's a bad thing. Sounds to me like you haven't had any fun in while." He says while walking around her, "Time to release, let go, cut loose. Let me help." He says before coming close from behind and directing the cigarette into her lips.

Rhea lightly inhales some of the cigarette and feels it go inside while Tido begins to kiss her neck lightly causing her to exhale while Tido wraps his arms around her. He guides her around as they lock lips as second time only with her consent as she lets him slip his tongue inside her mouth as she gently sucks it before pushing him onto a nearby chair. She grabs her glass of wine and swallows it whole before placing the glass on the counter, immediately approaching Tido and climbing on top of him.

She lets Tido put the cigarette in her mouth and she inhales, "You're a fucking dick!" She says before leaning in and exhaling in his mouth.

"Take off your dress." He orders her and watches as she takes the sleeves off first and then the dress itself leaving only her shoes and panties on.

She then takes off his armour as piece by piece the drell becomes more naked every second, "I take it you like it rough?"

With that question he stands up holding her as he walks to the bed and places her on her back while he begins fumbling with his leg armour. He uses his teeth to bite the lacing on her panties, ripping them off and spitting them out on the floor. "Now, let me show you how I relieve stress." And with the final word her thrusts himself into her causing her eyes to dilate black. She brings him in and kisses him hard while he continues in motion, causing slight moans from her and groans from him.

While the pair are having fun amongst themselves another pair are currently heading to a place where they can find more about Rhea and Krieg. Brutagus and Yentha are on Omega still as the neighbourhood they were in was typical but well-kept compared to most as the two continue walking until they reach the place they need to be. The door they stop at means they are here as the turian presses the pad to alarm the local resident. It's not long before the two them are greeted as the doors open to reveal Fayla, the former Eclipse mercenary who now makes a living on Omega.

"Fayla, I presume?" Brutagus asks before looking at the pistol in the asari's hand, "I'm here to talk about someone, your little grey friend."


	31. Lost or Found: Part I

**Chapter XXXI: Lost or Found: Part I**

**24/04/2160- Omega, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

On Omega, Brutagus and Yentha are getting acquainted with their new friend, Fayla. The asari is living a more hospitable place compared to most as she has a one-room apartment with an ensuite. The two Spectres are sitting at a kitchen table while she is making a drink for the two. Since the trade of human products the asari is making herself a cup of tea while giving the other two more familiar beverages. She isn't wearing any kind of armour instead opting for a more casual look as she passes the two each their drinks and sits opposite them.

"I didn't think I would be talking to you. To be honest, since I've been working for Aria I've put my Eclipse life behind me." She says before taking a sip of her drink and sighing.

"I'm surprised that they haven't come after you." Yentha says taking a sip of her drink as well.

Fayla laughs, "Not while I'm working for her, and being on Omega helps. Lucky Rhea had a bodyguard to protect her."

"Well, we didn't just come here for that. We'd like to know more about Rhea as well." Brutagus states and gets to the point.

She shrugs, "I don't know much really. She wasn't that interesting until the grey thing came into the picture. That was terrible day."

"How do you mean?" the turian wonders.

"It killed everyone on the ship except for me and Rhea." She says with a sign of regret over what happened.

Brutagus leans in with interest, "Wait, Rhea was on the ship? I thought it was just chance that you two met."

She shakes her head in protest, "Oh no, Rhea was a member of Eclipse though not much of one. She was given menial tasks by our Captain while she learned the trade."

"Where did you recruit her?" Yentha asks.

"Illium, we were part of that branch but the mission we were given was on behalf of Omega's." she answers giving the additional details.

"What was the mission?" Yentha asks interested.

"Well, we were kept in the dark as much as possible. We were sent into Rachni Space with a specific location in mind but none of us knew the name of the planet or what system it was in, only minor details and instructions from the buyer." She admits as they were told nothing of the value.

"So you don't know the planet?" Brutagus asks.

Fayla shakes her head, "Sorry. We got the thing he was looking for. It was casket or tomb of some kind and with the instruction to keep watch of it. Half-way through our journey it began to open and the smoke itself caused all of us to exit the cargo bay." She gives off and expression of guilt, "In our state of panic we thought someone should go down there and check it out. None of us wanted to be killed, so we forced someone down there."

"Rhea?" Yentha says under her voice.

Fayla nods to confirm, "Not long after the doors opened and this grey-thing tore us all apart in seconds. He was merciful on me because he needed information though it wasn't until later then that he gained the ability to talk. He left me strapped naked in the medical bay while both he and Rhea escaped."

"Where is the tomb now?" Yentha continues to question.

Fayla reveals the details, "Nowhere. As soon as I was found and released by Omega's Eclipse troops it self-destructed. Nothing was salvaged. After that, the events on Omega happened. I think they went on a smuggling ship after that, to get away from this place."

The turian turns to Yentha, "The Dirt-Boat, Juna apprehended K-Thousand on there and he was taken back to the Citadel, so was Rhea."

"What happened to them?" Yentha asks him.

He continues, "The batarian went to prsion while his son was given to the custody of the government. There was a turian as well though he's now a catering chef. We won't get much out of them." He turns back to Fayla, "What do you know of K-Thousand, Krieg?"

"Well, from what I remember he wasn't a normal alien. He was more like an animal, driven by instinct more than anything. Besides, who sent you all the way over here just to find that out?" Fayla asks.

Brutagus smiles, "It took a lot of digging. Anyway, it was nice meeting you." He says before gulping down his beverage and standing ready to shake her hand.

"You too." She says as she both escorts them out of her home and waits for them leave.

The two of them continue to walk down Omega's streets only this time they have more knowledge on those they are trying to find. They head to a nearby elevator that will take them back up to the higher levels. They wait patiently and look at each other with an agreeing nod to indicate that the conversation was useful.

"What now?" Yentha asks.

"Well, we know that Rhea left the Citadel the first time three years ago. The next time she was spotted was on Intai'sei, that's where the Scythe attacked." Brutagus informs as he has been looking into it for years.

"Do you think the Scythe were the buyers that Fayla mentioned?" Yentha asks.

He shrugs before answering, "Maybe, but I think the Migrant Fleet will have more to offer than anything."

"It's a long shot that they'll even let us on?" she states and knowing the Migrant Fleet's cautious nature.

"But it's worth a try." He says as the two enter the elevator and head upward.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Wait a second. While these Spectres were looking for you, you were having sex with this guy called Tido? Who at the time was the most wanted alien in galaxy?" Joker asks amused by what has been told.

Rhea raises an eyebrow and exhales unimpressed by his attitude, "To put it that way, yes I did. I wasn't proud of it but everyone needs to cut loose, as he once put it. That was the time I cut loose."

"First it was Thalian, then a human on Eden Prime and now a drell. So you just go around all the different species?" Joker remarks though this may have been too much for the asari.

"Thanks for you-" before she can continue a small beeping noise is heard from the control panel by the door she approaches it cautiously, "Hello?"

"Rhea, it's us, let us in! Let us in!" a female voice says before the command is followed and the asari pushes the button.

Joker watches as Rhea opens the doors and holds tight as anybody could come through the other side and hanging around someone like Rhea has got him too cautious as he knows Cerberus are after her. Within seconds, two aliens enter the hideout and don't notice him as Rhea closes the door and they face her.

The first was quarian wearing a suit like any other being black with a silver trim. The difference between this and other suits was that this was armoured up with additional knee, elbow and shoulder pads as well as shin guards, all silver coloured. The glass visor of the helmet was purple.

The other was an orange-crested krogan and Joker notice there was some truth to Rhea's story as he had tattoos over his crest on these were dark red. He wore black armour with bronze marking all over it but his right arm wasn't there as it had been replaced with a cybernetic version, well-built and coloured completely bronze apart from places where muscle definition is which are black.

"I thought you were with the others?" Rhea asks.

"We thought we would come and find you. Cerberus is dedicated on killing you." The quarian replies, "We thought you could use some back up."

"Thanks." Rhea says placing her hand on her shoulder.

The krogan spots Joker and approaches him, "Is this the guy?"

"Yes, that's Joker." She answers and watches him as he gets a good look at the human.

"Looks a bit scrawny." says the krogan.

Joker looks at Rhea hoping to get some answers, "Introduction, please?"

Rhea realises that's she hasn't introduced their new guests, "Oh sorry. Joker, these are Zeki and Ecroy." She reveals.

"You mean-?"

"The very same." She turns to face them, "I was just exchanging the information about the Scythe to him."

"So he knows that we know about the reapers." Ecroy asks, "How far have you gotten?"

"Illium actually." The asari reveals to her allies.

"Oh…that?" Zeki says with a bit of embarrassment.

"You mean?"

"Yep, we know about the little stress relief session she had with Tido." Ecroy says as he wanders to the couch and sits, "Yep, I remember that very well. Tido gets out of the shuttle and finds his way up to Rhea. It's a shame that Garahie got the worst part."…

**25/05/2160- Nos Astra, Illium, Tasale System, Crescent Nebula**

Garahie is wandering down the hallway after just leaving the elevator as he is in a different room and floor to Rhea. The clothing he is wearing is a smart blue salarian suit with a chest plate included to make himself look bigger on the upper part of his body. When he reaches the door to Rhea's place he presses the button first because he notices that the door was unlocked.

In his own ignorance he looks around before entering as he walks into an almost quiet room with nothing moving at all. He looks at the mourning skyline and doesn't notice that Rhea is just exiting her bathroom, a towel around her upper body and lets out slight sound when seeing Garahie has entered.

Garahie turns immediately showing an apologetic look, "Oh, I'm sorry. I, the, door was-"

"Keep it down, Garahie." says a noise coming from the bed as the two turn to see Tido sitting up and rubbing his face.

"Oh-"

Tido looks at Garahie with an expression of shock and then to Rhea who is embarrassed with this situation, "Good morning?"

Garahie turns to face the window, "Ecroy said that they are ready to go to the base again."

"Okay." says Rhea not looking at either of them.

"I'll just…go." Garahie says as he exits swiftly and embarrassed about the whole few minutes.

Rhea walks to the bed and sits down putting her head in her hands with much embarrassment, "By the Goddess, please tell me he didn't just see that?"

Tido lights a cigarette, "Sorry, I can't. First of all, I don't believe in your goddess." He says as a joke.

Rhea turns and immediately takes the cigarette and has a good inhale before releasing, "This is embarrassing. I can't believe that we had sex."

"I can, and you certainly needed it. You're not quite a goddess in bed to be honest, more like a predator." He remarks as he then feels Rhea's hand hit his foot, "Ow." He gets up and sits next to her and taking the cigarette back and inhaling, "It wasn't that bad was it?"

Rhea looks at him, "No. But it's just…you. You weren't embarrassed at all."

"I've had worse." He says before exhaling, "Like the time a krogan bounty hunter came into my room while I was having sex."

Rhea laughs as she looks to him again, "So what now?"

"What do you mean 'what now'?" Tido asks.

"Well, I don't think this is going to work." Rhea wanders as she isn't sure about the type of situation she is in.

"I agree." He states and catching Rhea a bit off-guard. He puts his arm around her and brings her in, "Yeah. Listen, this isn't an official thing okay. Just let me know when you need some company and I'll see what I can do." He says before bringing her face to face and kissing her passionately only he breaks it before anything else can happen, "That one is for free." Is all he says before getting up and heading into the bathroom himself.

On Korlus not all of Krinal's Acolytes are given the pleasure to fight the Asari Faction at their enclaves as Yox, Delphine and Filestra are on the wastes of the surface with a small unit of drones as they are heading towards an unknown destination. The trio have since been given new armour since Tuchanka but it was of similar design as before being a silver colour with black under-laying and the race-specific features making each one unique. They are each carrying a pistol and assault rifle except for Filestra who carries a sniper rifle instead.

As they reach the top of a hill the female turian pulls out the rifle and uses it to look through the scope and see the distant outpost which was they destination. The place was a singular watchtower of the same design as Sedath's but instead of the addition of a fortress underneath, the watchtower's surroundings were various scrap that even they couldn't cross. Lucky for them there is a tube leading from the middle of the tower over the lake of scrap and held together with columns underneath. The entrance to the tube was a small elevator leading up to it.

"There it is, Outpost K-3." Filestra says while putting her rifle back on her back.

Yox takes a look though from his sight it is much further away, "Why would Krinal want us to come here of all places?"

"Because Krinal hates us." says Delphine leading on not wanting to be outside much longer.

Filestra follows, "Krinal gets pissed off at anything. You're taking Tuchanka too personally." And with that she sees Delphine turn around and approach her, "Hit a nerve?"

Delphine glares at her, "You nearly died because we couldn't find you food. You were stuck on a planet for months and you don't have a problem with that?"

Filestra smirks, "I didn't like it, but I learned from it unlike you."

Delphine watches her walk past taking the lead, "Learned? Learned what?"

The turian turns, "Not to fail. Krinal wants the asari dead now and I believe that surviving Tuchanka was an example of whether or not we were worthy."

Yox nods in agreement, "Apparently we aren't the first to be sent there. That volus called Bylok went through a similar process on the planet as well."

"Don't you see? It was an initiation into the Acolytes. We have Krinal's protection now." Filestra reveals, "Both my brothers went through the same thing before they died."

Delphine looks at them both confused, "But those vorcha-"

"On Tuchanka we have the Rite of Passage, a ceremonial challenge to see if krogan are truly worthy of recognition. The mission on Tuchanka must have been Krinal's version of such a test, though those vorcha were a bit confusing." Yox admits.

"A bit? They had fucking tubes inside them and their eyes were glowing." Delphine says calling out husked feature to their attention.

"And? We don't know what Krinal was up to there but it's not our problem now." Yox says and takes the lead as he is the first to walk down the hill and towards the elevator which was about two-hundred yards away.

Filestra follows leaving Delphine to think on their words but eventually heads in that direction also. She manages to catch up with Yox who despite Filestra following him is still a good distance away from her. The asari walks beside the krogan with a disgruntled look but Yox doesn't seem to care about her feelings. The drones are surrounding them as they are there mainly for their own protection as there could be anything in the wasteland.

"Why did you take her side, again?"

Yox continues walking but acknowledges her, "What are you talking about?"

Delphine gets more frustrated, "We've been working together for two years and I thought that there was some sense of loyalty."

"Loyalty is earned not through association." Yox proclaims.

"And is that all I am, an associate?" she say now halting him by standing in front of him.

Yox gets face to face with her, "Don't push me, Delphine. You're not the first asari who has asked me that."

"Really? And what happened to her?" she asks.

"She died, betraying me." Yox finishes as he walks past her and brushes the heated argument off while she watches as Filestra walk past as well.

On Illium, the shuttle is on the freeways as Rhea sits in the pilots chair with INC on the other side. The door leading to the rest of them is closed because she is still embarrassed of when Garahie walked in on her and Tido and this distraction doesn't help her concentrate. In the back the other three sit in full armour as they are ready for an expedition into the Scythe Enclave located on the planet. Tido is acting normal as he keeps himself to himself though Garahie's constant staring towards him makes him a little uneasy. It doesn't help that Ecroy is staring as well and both with a surprised look about them as Tido starts gradually becoming restless.

Tido looks at Ecroy, "Do you-?"

"Yes." He immediately answers.

Tido looks at Garahie with a disappointed look, "Thanks."

"There was no one else to talk to." Garahie claims.

"It's not the type of thing you talk about unless you've done it yourself, which I guess you haven't because I know how salarians work." Tido says trying to insult him.

The salarian shrugs it off, "We're just surprised. Rhea didn't show any interest in you at all."

"Let's just drop it. And don't let Rhea know you know, okay?" he says as Garahie puts his hands up in submission and Ecroy nods as they continue their journey.

The shuttle is reaching their destination as the Scythe Enclave was located in what looks like a ruin of a former building on the outskirts of Nos Astra. Most of the ruin was exposed to the sun and from what could be seen from the shuttle it was formally a hexagonal building with at least fifteen floors though seven of those were levelled by Sintarrio's attack. The damage itself is more extensive as the centre of the highest floor had a huge hole at least twenty-feet in radius, similar to the hole created by Sinatrrio when he attacked the MSV Angel on Intai'sei.

The shuttle is just little smaller that this hole as Rhea is careful when landing it in which she enters the hole slowly and they all look at what use to be the building. Many workstations were destroyed as well as other social destinations within. Rhea however is curious when they descend below the lowest floor and into what seems to be the foundations of the building. Unlike most, these were more spacious and from their view they could see the elevator shaft exposed and ruined by heavy fire meaning Sintarrio was very thorough.

Turning to night vision due to lack of sunlight, Rhea is able to tell that they are nearing the bottom which was about a hundred feet below the first floor and maybe on the surface of the planet. She checks the oxygen levels and sees that it is still breathable as the air hasn't been exposed to the intense heat of the surface. The structure of where they have landed is dome shaped with columns supporting the structure above though it feels like a completely different building all together. As they land the door opens as Ecroy gets out first with a custom-made bronze and black assault rifle, while Tido ops to keep his pistols in their holsters. The final person to get out is Rhea, who with INC turns to face them all as a leader of this mission.

"Okay, you know what you are doing?" Rhea asks.

Garahie nods, "Yeah, I remain with the ship while you, Ecroy and Tido head into the place. I'll call if there is anything suspicious."

She turns to the others, "INC will lead us into the facility. Keep a channel on in the shuttle." She orders as the four of them walk begin their search.

Tido is the last to follow but says a final sentence to the salarian, "Likes giving orders, doesn't she?" he remarks.

"You should know." the salarian says and is received with a glare from the drell before slowly heading to the others.

The only exits out of this structure are the elevator that was out of commission and an exposed entrance the opposite side. This is where the group is heading and the door has been blown off but the tunnel leading down towards the Enclave was exposed but also a way to the place. There was no path that led through this passage but instead there was a railcar which could house twelve people and the group climb aboard which INC using its tentacles to activate the manual controls which were not damaged in the attack. However with the light from the railcars activation shows that the tunnel had serious internal damage with burn marks across the walls but the build was sturdy enough not to collapse on them as there were no cracks to be seen.

Rhea sits down next to INC and get confortable while watching the other two sitting in different places with Ecroy taking a sit on the third row of chairs and Tido on the forth. The latter gives her a nod before she turns back in embarrassment before leaning to INC, "How long is this tunnel?"

"Answer: This tunnel is thirty miles in length and leads into the more rural areas of Nos Astra. I estimate from my last journey it will take thirty minutes."

"Okay, let's go." She says before watching the railcar doors shut so they were secure and INC begins the engine.

Yox, Felistra and Delphine were in a tunnel of their own as they were walking down the entrance of Outpost K-3 which wasn't far as the group have made good time at the expense of social interaction. Delphine is still unhappy with Yox though the krogan doesn't feel the same as he is the first to reach the door that leads into the tower. He lets the two women enter first as they all look to see that the place was full of drones at their posts performing menial tasks. These tasks involved moving and replacing pods from one floor to another as the place they have entered is a giant cryogenics lab.

The group turn to the sound of footsteps approaching them as they expect Krinal to be here to greet them but they are wrong when they look at each other confused at the strange creature in front of them. The creature was around seven foot tall and had a Scythe spider drone for a head while attached to its bottom was a curved torso with the vertebrae having curved-spikes attached. The legs were similar to krogans and turians only slim and long and the arms reached the shins. The hands and feet each had four digits, two fingers and two thumbs.

The creature was walking on two legs at this time, "Acolytes: Delphine, Filestra, Yox. Emissary has stationed you here on observation duty. I am P.A. Unit-3, at your service. Your accommodations are situated on the upper levels of tower if you wish to see them. "

"Observational duty?" Delphine says with distain, "Krinal must think we're useless."

"On the contrary Acolyte Delphine. This task is important to Krinal and handpicked you personally. You, asari, should be honoured." the Unit-3 states.

Yox leans over the balcony and looks at the levels of pods, "What are we observing?"

Unit-3 walks towards the balcony and places its hands on it, "The stasis pods are of great importance to Krinal though even I do not know the contents, only that each pod contains a person unique and not to be wasted."

"Is it an army?" Yox asks.

"No, Krinal has an army. These being are to be unspoiled and protected." The Unit reveals.

Delphine walks over and takes a look, "See, I told you Krinal gave us a shit task to do while the other Acolytes are going to get some action of their own."

Filestra sighs, "Shut the fuck up. Krinal asked us to do this, so we do it. Wouldn't want to get on his bad side, would we?" she says walking past the asari.

Yox looks at the asari's annoyed face and knows that this is going to be a hard with two rivals and him in-between. He looks at the Unit again, "Where are our quarters? We've had a long journey."

"Of course, you'll most likely be tired from the fifty mile walk from the Dead Valley. Follow me." It says before leading the group towards the elevator. The group enter with the turian on one side and the asari on the other with the Unit and krogan in-between. The Unit uses its programming to shut the door and lift the elevator up at rapid pace. As soon they exit they each find three doors and the Unit walks out and introduces the rooms, "These are your living quarters. Your personal belongings have been placed inside for you to do as you wish." It waits for the three to exit and enters the elevator ready to return to the cryogenics floor.

Delphine sighs as she watches both Filestra and Yox enter their new homes while she looks at the door on the left and knows that it is hers. She enters and finds the place a bit more pleasing than her last residence as it was more spacious but at the same time set out differently. There was a first floor which consisted of all the basic necessities with a view of the landscape despite it being mainly of old ships and scrap metal.

The asari sighs heavily before hearing a sound coming from upstairs and she pulls out her pistol not sure of what to expect. She gradually walks up the steps to the en-suite and sees that someone is inside her bed. Her eyes squint as there is a rustling in the sheet before a head pokes out and she sighs in relief as it happens to be Liz, the human who was living in Krinal's lair for a time as she is smiling though covering it with the sheet.

"Fuck, you scared me." Delphine says putting her pistol back on her hip, "What are you doing here?"

"I was moved a few days ago. Apparently I am your property." She says lying on her back, "I don't mind, you've taken care of me for past few months anyway."

Delphine smiles as she looks at the bedside table and sees a box on top, "What's that?"

"A present. Take a look." Liz says as she watches her lover open the box, "What do you think?"

Delphine sits on the bed and takes out the first object which is a strap-on for both of them and underneath she sees what looks like a CD case as she looks at the cover in confusion, "Diplomatic Relations: An Azure Adventure?"

Liz pulls the sheet to cover her and places her head on Delphine's neck and her arms on her shoulders, "It's a film that you might like."

Delphine feels the human kiss her neck, "A film? What's it's about?"

"It's the first inter-species pornographic film. It has a story though the majority of it is asari and humans fucking each other." She says suggestively, "Maybe we could learn something from it?"

Delphine turns around and pushes her back and get on top of her, "Later. I would rather use my other present. Give me a few minutes to get this armour off." She says before kissing her on the lips.

Liz pushes her back and smiles, "No, keep it on."

Rhea and company were halfway through the tunnel heading towards the Scythe Enclave which Sintarrio attacked and destroyed though it was unknown to them that they were being watched. Even though the tunnel was dark there was light coming from the railcar so the group could see the tunnels walls. However they couldn't see what was underneath the railcar as a tentacle reaches up and moves like a snake as it creeps above to the roof and meets another tentacle as they wrap around each other.

No one inside has noticed until the two tentacles clamp down and begin to halt the transport to everyone's confusion. Ecroy looks through the window to see a tentacle but knows that attempting to shoot it is futile as the railcar is well fortified and shooting from the inside would be more dangerous to himself and everyone else. They all are knocked back a bit forward by INC's attempt to keep the railcar moving but they each get into a more balanced position.

Rhea gets a look outside, "What is that? It looks like tentacle from a Scythe Drone."

"Theory: All Scythe Chapters had drones in order to perform menial tasks. It was most likely that Krinal sent a signal for them to turn on the asari, leaving Sintarrio to finish them off." INC puts forward.

"Then why would any of them survive the blast?" she wanders as they would have most likely been sacrificed during the destruction. "And how come you didn't detect it?"

INC continues, "Theory: Krinal must have enhanced the drones in order to prevent us from detecting them. Anomaly: This drone doesn't show the same diagnostics as a regular drone."

"Then explain the diagnostics shit-heap!" Tido shouts as the railcar begins to shake.

The tentacles continue to hold the railcar while two more pairs begin wrapping themselves around the vehicle and repeating the same task. Tido is getting impatient as he looks at the hard glass window and pulls out his sniper rifle. Instead of shooting the pane he uses the other end and begins hitting it though not so successful. INC however begins hacking the main system and allows the doors to open which were not affected by the tentacles.

Rhea, Ecroy and INC jump out and then finally Tido as they see the tentacles retract and they all catch their breath. The drone that crawls from underneath is strange in appearance as the three drone-heads situated in a triangular-shape and underneath was a spherical-object which was the origin of the tentacles. Instead of hovering, it used an additional sphere extended underneath the first that rolls in the desired directions while the tentacles act as arms, six in total.

"What the fuck is that?" Rhea asks bewildered by the drone's appearance.

"Like I fucking care. Let's kill it." Tido says firing a shot from his rifle and they all watch the machine absorb the heat of thermal bullet rather than take damage. "Fucking great."

The Tri-Drone rolls towards the group spinning itself while extending its tentacles and manages to knock Ecroy down the tunnel while Rhea and Tido dive out of the way. Rhea pulls out her pistol and shoots the machine but the bullets continue to absorb the heat. When the Tri-Drone approaches it uses a tentacle by slamming it to the ground while Rhea rolls out of the way to the left then again to the right when this repeats itself. She is given a moment to stand up while Tido jumps and steps onto a tentacle before hoisting himself onto the top of the machine in order to confuse it.

Ecroy picks himself up while INC hovers beside him and watches the feeble attempt from Tido as the drell pulls out a grenade and plants it on the machine before jumping off. The explosion is small but effective as the Tri-Drone becomes disorientated and keeps itself up using two of its six tentacles. It falls to the ground to Tido's satisfaction and Rhea is surprised until one of the tentacles grabs Tido's ankle and draws him near.

Ecroy looks at the drone to check for weaknesses as he takes the clip out of his assault rifle and replaces it which another clip from his pouch. He aims carefully while the Tri-Drone is hurling Tido across the tunnel. The krogan fires and catches one of the tentacles which in turn begins to react to a freezing agent in the bullet. It slowly creeps around the whole tentacle until the drone moves the limb and it break off to everyone's amazement.

Knowing that this works the krogan moves in on the machine and while it has dropped Tido it focuses on him. Ecroy is successful in dodging the tentacle attacks before shooting the pole that connects the rolling sphere to the tentacle sphere. He then risks himself by tackling the object and is successful in breaking the Tri-Drone's balance. Ecroy has dived out of the way before it lands on the ground and in an attempt to lift itself up he destroys the remaining five tentacles with relative ease.

Rhea approaches him to see a now motionless working shell, "How did you do that?"

Ecroy turns to her, "The shots that you and Tido fired with the addition of the grenade must have caused the drone to absorb so much heat that rapidly cooling it with Cryo-Ammo would make it more susceptible to stiffening up and making it easier to break."

"Conclusion: Agreed." INC states while approaching the Tri-Drone, "Proposal: It may be useful to extract the files while the drone's memory-core is still intact."

"Do it. Let's hope that it is useful." She says before looking at the railcar and seeing only minor damage from the tentacles. "Can this thing still work?"

"It didn't take too much damage." Ecroy states as he watches Tido approach, "How's your head?"

Tido looks at the krogan with an unhappy face, "Fine. Come on; let's get out of this place. The quicker we get there the quicker we can leave."

"Then we better get moving." Rhea says leading the group back into the railcar. She sits down as INC begins moving the transport forward and towards the Scythe Enclave, "What were you able to download from the thing back there?"

"Answer: the data is encrypted though when we get to the Scythe Enclave I will have the time to encrypt it." It answers.

Ecroy leans back towards Tido's direction, "Thanks for using the grenade. My plan wouldn't have worked otherwise."

Tido brushes it off, "Yeah, well. I almost had it in the bag."

"Keep telling yourself that." Ecroy says as he turns back and presses a button on his chest armour. "Garahie, come in? Garahie? Shit, the tunnel is blocking the signal."

"Really?" Rhea asks turning his way, "Are you sure?"

"Positive. There's just static." The krogans states while turning it off.

Tido sighs, "Great, so if we need help getting out here we can't? Fucking amateurs."

Rhea stands up and turns to the drell, "Have you got any better ideas?"

Tido smiles, "You don't get it do you? It's not that is no signal, the signal is being blocked by something. When we get to that base, we're not going to be just surveying like little detectives. We'll be fighting."

"Nothing's in there. The place was destroyed." Rhea ensures.

"So you think. Their defences will still be operational and I assure you you'll find more of those things back there." Tido says with confidence.

Rhea sighs as the night before she was sleeping with the drell and now she is back to squabbling with him. He winks at her to her disgust as she turns around and sits back next to INC. The railcar was still on its way to the Scythe Enclave though now there was less chance of the transport being attacked.

Aria is sitting on couch upon the balcony inside her club, Afterlife. The place is a lot more modern-looking compared to what it was before Krieg and Rhea were here but the asari is still acting the way she normally does as the her guards protect her from anyone who gets too close. She notices that the guards are looking over and she turns to see Brutagus and Yentha walking into the place.

She indicates the guards to check them out as she stands and watches them. Brutagus signals for a drink at the bar though while he waits Yentha whispers in his ear as she sees the muscle closing him on him. Aria crosses her arms as one of the batarians pokes the turian in the lower back with his rifle and he turns around. A brief conversation and Brutagus seems to outwit the alien to his annoyance and the batarian escorts the two over and up the steps.

She turns to see the two of them, "Oristar Brutagus. It's been awhile since you've been on Omega."

"I've had a reason to come." Brutagus says before they all sit down at Aria's request.

"I heard that you asking about Fayla?" She wanders while closing her eyes.

"Yeah, we were. Problem?" Yentha asks with a cautious tone.

Aria turns her head towards them, "No, just interested in what she had to say about Rhea that's all."

"How do you know that?" Yentha says standing up and alerting the guards.

She sits down and lets Aria answer, "Since being here, Fayla hasn't had a visit unless it one of my people. She likes it that way."

"We only came in for a drink, nothing more. Then your thug comes and says that you want to talk to me, so spill it." Brutagus says knowing Aria's way of conversing with others which normally is for a reason of her own.

Aria leans in seriously, "I have some information for you. I've recently been losing contacts off- station, saying they have a new employer."

"Why should this interest me?" Brutagus asks.

"Because not only have the contacts seemed to have severed ties, but rumour has it that many pirate gangs are amassing here in Terminus." She reveals and is referring to Krinal's fleet.

"How come?" Yentha inquires.

Aria leans back again, "How should I know? The recent activity has us concerned and it's not just me because the Bloodpack and Eclipse are also acting out as they don't like this new collective of firepower and troops." She takes out her omni-tool, "I also have the knowledge that there is a ship leading these pirates. A dreadnaught. I have visuals if you need them."

Brutagus hears this and starts to become concerned "A dreadnaught? What are you willing to trade for the information you have stored in these files?"

Aria laughs at them, "I'm not going to charge you but I want you to find out who their client is. If anything he or she should be upon that ship."

They both stand though the turian is one to speak on their behalf, "We'll see what we can do but we're currently looking for T'Anya."

"Well, I can't help you there but I can ask you this. Do you really want this fleet controlling the Terminus? The size of it is certainly a threat to any species in the galaxy." She says before signalling the guards to make way for the pair.

"Thanks for the heads up." Yentha concludes as she follows Brutagus.

As the pair walk down the steps and they once again head over towards the bar to think to themselves with this new information on hand. Brutagus signals for the same bartender to bring him a drink that he was in the middle of ordering before and Yentha does the same. The asari swallows it whole and sighs at this new information. Brutagus notices though he puts a hand on her soldier and reassures her.

"Don't worry." He says in stress-free tone.

Yentha is confused with his decorum, "Don't worry? If what Aria said was true then the data you found proves it."

The turian smiles "I know. The data I managed to decrypt mentioned something about a dreadnaught's construction. It gives us another lead."

"But it's too risky, we can't find out who is behind it." Yentha explains with much doubt, "A fleet of pirates, shit. The Citadel Council has to be warned."

"No." Brutagus says to her confusion, "If the Council knew then there will be a full-scale conflict. T'Anya is our priority and we'll stick to that, if the fleet and this dreadnaught are linked to the Scythe then we must know more about it and who is in control of the fleet."

"You'd risk war for finding a single asari?" Yentha asks.

Brutagus finishes his drink and turns to her, "If we find T'Anya, then it won't come to that."

Within Outpost K-3, Yox is within the chamber of numerous pods and is pondering on what is inside them. P.A. Unit-3 is also present as its job was to coordinate the drones that move the pods from time to time. Within the outpost also are Tri-Drones but they don't tend to the pods but seem to roll up and down the columns holding the outpost together. His trail of thought is put off by the sound of footsteps and walking to his side is Filestra who leans over and looks at them as well.

"I don't get why Krinal would send us to protect this place."

"Krinal didn't send us to protect it. We are to observe that everything is going smoothly, whatever this place is." The krogan explains as he sees Unit-3 below on the lower floor, "Hey, Unit-3!" he shouts.

The limbed drone looks up to see both Yox and Filestra as it uses an unconventional way of approaching them by jumping onto one of the regular drones. It then uses it to spring itself to the floor above and Unit-3 grabs the ledge and pulls itself over, "I am here to serve, Acolyte Yox."

"Why is this place so important to Krinal?" Yox asks on behalf of the two of them.

"From my databanks, I can only give you basic information. These pods each contain what Krinal has called an 'Ally'. The allies are from what we gather are precious to him and we have been attending to these pods for centuries, keeping the inhabitants alive."

"Centuries?" Filestra says, "Who's in them?"

"I'm sorry but that information is not in my databanks, I am merely a taskmaster." It states before looking back to its brethren.

Yox turns to the turian, "Well, that didn't get anywhere. I guess we'll have to play along for now."

"More than Delphine wants to." Filestra states with disdain for the asari, "She's been acting weird lately."

"The way you talk to her, I'm not surprised." Yox says.

Filestra smiles, "Well, she never took a liking to me anyway. I don't know what her problem is?"

"She thinks that you think you're better than her." Yox says showing no form of loyalty to the asari.

She looks at him with shock, "Really, is that all? To think, I thought it would be you who had the problem with me, not her."

Yox laughs, "I don't care that you're a turian, though my clan would."

"You have a family?" Filestra asks interested.

"If you want to call them that. I am of Clan Gatatog and my uncle, Uvenk is in charge." He reveals without knowing that the very same krogan a generation later would be on their homeworld.

"So you're quite high up in the food chain?" she wanders getting to know him more.

"No, as Clan Leader he is the only authority. I got exiled from my Clan over two-hundred years ago, though my uncle was pleased enough."

"Why would he be pleased? I thought your family would protect you." Says Filestra thinking about her two brothers and how they worked together.

"Not for the Krogan. Despite our tribal nature, politics is deadly game. My mother was a Gatatog and Female Clan Leader until she was killed under mysterious circumstances. I was off world back then and when I went back I got the feeling that there was something that Uvenk wasn't telling me. Anyway, I don't like talking about such things anymore." He says ending their conversation as he nods to the turian out of respect.

The tunnel heading to the Scythe Enclave is reaching the limit as the Railcar is pulling it to another station. Unlike the domed entrance that they saw below the ruined building this entrance was even more bizarre as the Scythe architecture was more Reaper-inspired. The gate to the Enclave itself resembled one of the machines with its legs holding the structure up and also acting as columns on the platform with the entrance underneath. The room is better lit than the entrance to the tunnel as it seems relatively untouched. The group begin to exit the railcar and all observe the object in front of them not understanding its significance.

"Whoa, scary." Says Tido as he feels a chill at the back of his neck.

Rhea sees that the entrance is sealed shut and turns to INC, "Do you have time to encrypt that data? I think it might be our only way of getting inside."

"Answer: The drone may have contained an access code if it was programed to serve this facility. Information: The signal lost in the tunnel has been regained."

"Good, I'll be able to talk to Garahie now." Ecroy says as he faces the tunnel and presses the same button on his chest-plate, "Garahie?"

"Ecroy? Where were you? The signal jammed." Garahie says on the other end of the channel.

He smiles, "I know. We're at the Enclave entrance now. Is there any suspicious activity?"

"None from my end, this place is dead." the salarian states from his end which was clear when they arrived.

"Okay, keep the channel open." He says about to turn around.

"Wait, wait. Is Rhea there?" he asks catching her attention.

Rhea presses her ear-piece, "Yeah, this is Rhea. What's up, Garahie?"

"I got a call while you were in the tunnel. It was from a Zeki asking for you." He reveals.

She smiles surprised, "Zeki? What did she say?"

"She said that she's coming to Illium. She she would arrive in-" his next sentence is cut off when a screech is heard coming from the tunnel where the group came from and he could hear it too through his ear-piece, "What was that?"

"I don't know." she says turning back to her drone, "INC, is there anything here?"

"Scanning: Hostiles detected coming from within the tunnel. Information: Signal disruption." It says as the screeching becomes louder and more frequent.

"Shit, it's a trap!" Tido says pulling out his sniper rifle.

"Garahie? Garahie? Fuck, he can't talk to us now." She says as she looks towards the tunnel and begins to see a group of blue flashing lights, "INC, keep trying to open the door. Ecroy, Tido, we have to hold them off long enough for INC to open the door."

"Got it." Ecroy says pulling his assault rifle out and pointing towards the tunnel while looking through the scope due to lack of light.

Rhea is the last to pull out her pistol and puts her recon-hood on for night-vision so she can see more clearly. What she sees however is beyond her belief because coming from the tunnel was another Tri-Drone which was leading many regular drones, ready to fight. As a drone enters Tido is the first to take a shot as the drell hits the machine between the eyes and causing it to fall straight away but this doesn't give them any advantage due to them being over whelmed with seconds.

Ecroy still has some cryo-ammo and is managing to freeze the smaller drones long enough to focus on the Tri-Drone which is attacking with its tentacles. Tido can't use his sniper rifle effectively in a crowded battle-zone so puts it away and pulls out his pistols but not before he throws a grenade towards the tunnel entrance and it detonates as soon as the remaining drones exit but some are caught in the explosion.

Rhea watches as INC manages to open the doors and she is the first to enter the Enclave though the entrance is too narrow for Ecroy to get through. The krogan was beginning to step back towards their position when Tido enters and covers with Rhea while the krogan waits for the doors to open wide enough and when he does enter so does quickly enter and is followed by INC. Ecroy dives onto the floor because a single enemy drone has managed to enter before the doors close and it flies towards his direction though it misses but Ecroy is quick to fire at it and the freezing ammo causes the drone to fall and break as it hits the ground.

They all catch their breath while Rhea watches the door close ehind them and have known that they have succeeded but for a price. "Great, we're trapped."


	32. Lost or Found: Part II

**Chapter XXXII: Lost or Found: Part II**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"You were trapped?" Joker asks in strange tone looking at both Rhea and Ecroy who were there at the time, "And this place's door was in the shape of a Reaper?"

"Sure was, that thing was almost spine-chilling. When we saw what you did here two years ago it alerted us greatly." Ecroy states while taking a glass of Ryncol and drinking it which was the only thing he was willing to drink.

"So what happened when you were trapped? You couldn't eat?" Joker asks and wanders how they survived in there.

Rhea continues from here, "Luckily we found that the Scythe's ration supply was untouched so we managed to keep ourselves full and we rotated guard duty while two of us slept. We were in there for nine days."

Joker sits back surprised at the duration in which they were trapped in one of their enemy's bases, "Whoa, how did you get out of a place like that if the way you came in was the only way out?"

Zeki coughs in order to grab his attention, "I believe I can answer that question. Luckily for them, I managed to arrive in time to save them."

"If you want to put it like that." Ecroy says laughing but lets her continue.

Zeki waits for him to stop, "Well, as you know there was one member of the group that wasn't in the Enclave. Garahie was actually the one who can take most of the credit."…

**03/05/2160- Nos Astra, Illium, Tasale System, Crescent Nebula**

"This is the place." Zeki says looking up towards the hotel where Rhea and Garahie were staying during their time here.

She was wearing a different environmental-suit than when she last saw Rhea as this time her suit is in better condition and had a grey visor. The silk black cloth is held together with white straps though she also had additional straps that went over her shoulders and attach to her utility-belt with a holster on the right side for her personal pistol. The shoulder straps also had pouches on them while on her back was a small backpack that reached just above her lower back. She also has a knife strapped to her left ankle while also carrying her omni-tool as she was opening it and looking at the screen.

"Are you sure?" says another voice as she wasn't alone.

There was a quarian standing behind her looking the other way only his appearance was drastically different. He wore a suit that was black cloth but red straps with his addition choice of clothing which came into question as covering his left arm was a cape that reach to his waste, black with red lining on the edges. The strap holding the cape trails towards his right hip onto his utility-belt of a black colour and on his left hip he carries a custom-made pistol though it is concealed at this time. His glass covering was grey though had a visor-type device over the right eye.

"I'm sure. The salarian told us to send him a message and he would give us further instruction." She says turning to him. Even though he was looking away she can see that he is concerned, "Are you okay? Rael'Zorah said it was okay to leave."

The quarian turns, "Yes, he did. I'm just curious why your friend hasn't come to greet you."

Zeki sighs, "I guess, but I've told you who she is, so you shouldn't be surprised." She says before her omni-tool begins to beep and she opens a channel, "Hello?"

"Zeki? This is Garahie. I've just got your message. I'm currently in the hotel but don't come in." Garahie says in a cautious tone.

Zeki looks at her omni-tool confused, "Why not?"

"No offense but two quarians entering a place like this will get these asari suspicious. Besides, we need to get to business straight away. I am giving you coordinates to a location nearby." He informs as the other quarian looks at the omni-tool as well.

She looks at her friend before answering back, "What is at this location?"

"An asari shuttle, I'll be there in a while." He says before switching off the channel.

"He sounds paranoid." The male quarian states while looking at the location they are heading to, "Something may have happened, keep your guard up."

Zeki watches him lead and follows him, "You know where you're going?"

"I've been to Nos Astra before though not by choice. The place where we are heading is a group of warehouse five miles away." The quarian says.

"Warehouses?" she says as she looks at her friend and sighs, "Difan, you didn't have to come with me you know? You could have gone back to your ship."

Difan turns around to see her face once again, "Don't say that. You trusted me enough to tell me the truth about your friend. Trust me; I know you're going to need help with this. Whatever your friend is in, it isn't safe. You'll need all the help you can get." He says leading again, "Besides, we're safer here than on the Flotilla."

"But Droh, Tyon and the others aren't." she says with concern for her friends.

"Maybe, but they're smart. They won't say anything to put you in danger." He finishes as the two head down some steps and towards their destination.

Krinal is in its lair with Sovereign's hologram watching over it. The chamber has become more cluttered since the faction had broken off from the Scythe. It was filled with equipment for experimenting and was attached to various pods similar to those in Outpost K-3. On the slab in the centre of the room was yet again another clone of Krieg that had also had been skinned for experimental purposes though it is not known why the machine is doing this. Sovereign's presence only adds additional pressure to the smaller machine as it cuts pieces of muscles tissue off the clone and puts them into a tube while observing the pods.

The machine also had the company of a single drone which was aiding the Emissary in its experiments as it passes Krinal a clipboard and the machine looks at it with interest while bringing up a hologram of the Zenith, its fleet and the planet Aite. It looks at the Fleet's current position as the majority was returning from the Phoenix Massing to the Hades Nexus, away from Geth Space.

"Nazara, the fleet is moving away from Geth Space. The Scythe base that we destroyed happened to be weapons factory. This will cripple the Scythe as they'll most likely have to turn to mainstream manufacturers for weapons."

"If what you say is true, hack into the manufacturers accounts and list the buyers and their locations. Stopping them from rearming is the key to our victory." The reaper orders before continuing, "What is the progress of Extermination Squads?"

"Four chapters have been destroyed and seven others are currently under attack." Krinal informs while continuing its experimenting.

"And what of the creature?" it asks the smaller machine.

Krinal looks up and sighs, "Nothing. We haven't been able to track Krieg anywhere."

"It is adapting to our pursuit. What of the asari and her group?" Sovereign asks.

"They still haven't surrendered and are trapped within the Illium Chapter. The salarian is still on Illium and is meeting someone. Juna's work has been successful in us tracking them." it states meaning they knew they were on Illium the whole time.

"They are becoming an increasing threat to us. Keep this in mind, Emissary." The reaper states before disappearing and allowing Krinal to continue.

Back on Illium both Zeki and Difan had found Tido's shuttle which they were ordered by Garahie to find. The male quarian leans on the shuttle while Zeki is getting impatient as she walks up and down waiting for the salarian to arrive. Difan watches his surroundings and feels that they are not alone as something seems strange about the warehouse they were in which happened to be abandoned by whoever owned it beforehand. Zeki lets out a sigh before checking her omni-tool again and checking the messages she has received.

"Calm down, he'll be here." Difan assures her though she is still restless.

She turns to face him, "This place gives me the creeps. Rhea isn't here and all we can go on is this salarian."

"But you've talked to him before? What makes you distrust him now?" Difan asks with some truth to his questions.

"I don't know." Zeki replies before turning away and crossing her arms, "Something's happened, I feel it."

"You're right." Garahie says as he has arrived and is wearing his full armour ready to go. The two quarians stand straight to see the salarian with an express of anxiousness on his face, "I'm Garahie, the one you talked to."

"It's about time. Where's Rhea?" Zeki wanders.

"That's the problem; she's not here right now." He reveals but they allow him to continue, "Let me explain. Nine days ago, Rhea and two others when into a place and got trapped. It's not far from here but I'm going to need your help getting in."

"Our help? How?" Difan inquires.

Garahie sighs, "I believe they were attacked by something. Rhea said that you encountered something on Intai'sei a few years back."

"The asari?" Zeki wanders thinking of the commandos as it was one of their bases.

"No. I think you also encountered some sort of machines." He says thinking about the signal being jammed at the time.

Zeki remembers when the Asari Scythe held her, Rhea and Tylirria hostage two years ago and turns to Difan, "Those drones I told you about. The asari had some machines aiding them. They might be the same ones."

"Machines? Perhaps they are AI's. It sounds almost too risky taking a chance to find them." Difan says thinking to himself.

"But something has blocked the signal. I don't know if their alive of not." Garahie reveals and is the reason for his current action.

Difan crosses his arms, "So what do you want us to do?"

Garahie approaches Tido's shuttle, "This shuttle here isn't big enough to enter the tunnel that leads to their location and is our only transport offworld."

"So how do we get to them?" Zeki asks and hasty to help her friend.

"I have some money, enough to buy two air-cars from a local showroom. I need one of you to buy them on my behalf. I can't do it because, well, I'm sort of wanted by the Spectres at the moment." Garahie asks of them because his current status.

"Sounds like your friend's type of company." Difan says to Zeki and she is unimpressed with this comment. "What will we use the air-cars for?"

"The entrance they went through was lengthy and the railcar is on the other side and it never responded to control pad. I believe walking there would be too long." Garahie says before opening the shuttle and heads to the front where he opens the channel again and hears nothing but static, "Shit, there still unable to communicate still."

Zeki hears and climbs into the cockpit, "Take us to the showroom and we'll buy the cars and then let us know where you are and we can follow you to this place. Rhea must be alive. She wouldn't give up that easily."

Difan climbs abroad as well and places himself on a chair behind the cockpit. He sees some crates that belong to Tido but doesn't question why they are here, "If your friend is in trouble, then we should help her."

Zeki turns to Difan and smiles under her helmet, "Thank you."

**2185- Rhea Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"You must have been shocked to hear what Garahie had to say then?" Joker asks as he gets a nod from Zeki. He turns to Rhea, "So the structure you entered had the doorway in the shape of a Reaper? Are you sure?"

Rhea nods, "Yes, but we didn't know that back then. We didn't even know Krinal was connected to them but whatever it was, Sovereign was offended."

"I know what you mean. When Shepard confronted Saren on Virmire, the turian said that Sovereign was insulted even by the Geth's worship to it." He tells them to Rhea's surprise.

"Really? I thought another AI would be the perfect worshipper for one of those things?" Rhea wonders.

"Actually, when you look back it's not that surprising. The Reapers were offended by the Scythe but they must of viewed the geth as just as inferior." Zeki puts forward.

While Zeki is about to continue Rhea stands and is followed by Ecroy as she escorts him to the kitchen while she pours herself a coffee and the krogan continues to drink his Ryncol. The asari was stressed but the krogan sees this as he leans on the refrigerator as she takes the coffee and sips it. Rhea then looks towards Joker while he talks to Zeki but knows that she has more pressing issues.

"So is everyone safe?" she asks him bluntly.

"No one was injured but Cerberus took a few casualties." He reveals before taking another sip of his drink, "That wasn't all. The Illusive Man is taking personal interest in your termination from what we've found on one of the agents."

"And it was his actions that got me out of Purgatory in the first place. Maybe he hoped I would die in that place." Rhea states as she takes another sip. "What of the rest of the team?"

"They're beginning to evacuate the Citadel while we stay here. We'll give them the call when we need picking up." Ecroy states before looking at Joker who is still conversing with Zeki, "Are we taking the pilot?"

She shakes her head, "No. If we do, Cerberus will want him dead. They don't know that we have him do they?"

"No, if anything they believe he is still back on the Normandy." the krogan informs.

"Good, at least he's safe." She says relieved.

"Why are you telling him all this?" Ecroy asks curiously, "It seems too risky."

"Because he needs to know that he has allies and that the Reapers have more enemies apart from them." She informs.

While they are still talking to Ecroy, Joker is still getting better acquainted with Zeki who was telling him about her part in this story. The quarian is relaxed while she quickly looks over to the asari and krogan talking amongst themselves and Joker notices.

"What are they talking about?" he asks.

Zeki knows but tries to divert the conversation, "There just filling each other in on what been going on here. Anyway, back to my thing. We managed to buy those cars Garahie wanted for the rescue mission and we reached the place pretty quickly."

"Weren't you tired from the journey to Illium?" Joker wanders as they must have least been traveling for nine days.

"At first, but when the adrenaline kicks and your friend is in trouble you're ready for anything."…

**03/05/1260- Illium, Tasale System, Cresent Nebula**

Tido's shuttle is flying towards the location it did nine days prior and now with the addition of two other transports as following behind Garahie are two air-cars and by the state of them were cheapest on sale as they were rusted and only just working. Zeki was in the first car and Difan in the second as the two follow the salarian and get a good look at the ruined building that leads to the Scythe Enclave. Garahie is quick to land down in the giant hole within the middle and into the foundations while other two lower their cars with caution and get a look of where they were heading into.

As Zeki lands her vehicle she watch as Garahie has landed the shuttle in one of the corners though his intention is unclear as he gets out of his vehicle and heads over to her as it was the closest. She opens the door while he carries a few items in a duffel bag though was having a hard time carrying them. He puts the stuff on the backseat and sits next to it while the female quarian closes the door and waits for the salarian's instruction.

"Right, we're here. Rhea and the other went through that tunnel. Drive carefully and follow it. It should be a one-way path." He says before open the bag and taking out an assault rifle that was Spectre class. He puts the rifle on the chair in front of him next to her along with another, "You and your friend will need these."

"Are you expecting trouble?" Zeki asks curiously as she looks at the weapon.

"Yes. Tell your friend to follow us and keep his guard up." He orders with a hint of concern.

Zeki presses a button on the side of her breathing apparatus, "Hey, Difan. Follow us and watch out, Garahie's expecting trouble."

"Got it." is all that is heard before switching off.

Zeki sighs before lifting the car and heading towards the tunnel and hearing Difan behind her. With the uneasy silence in the space she decides to break the tension, "So what's your story?"

"Yours first, Rhea seems to trust you." Garahie says as he examines his submachine-gun.

Zeki thinks back and remembers with great detail, "I met Rhea and few years ago when some shit happened on my ship and we were unable to return to the Flotilla. Then we were on Intai'sei before she was framed."

"You mean when the Council accused her of killing that turian General?" he clarifies.

She nods reluctantly, "Yeah, she didn't do it though and I am sure about that before you ask. She couldn't have done it but they said nothing about the other asari."

"Another asari?" Garahie says with confusion not knowing about Chavai.

She turns to see him before focusing back on the tunnel, "There were two asari arrested that day not just Rhea, though the Council failed to mention that."

"And this asari is associated with this base? Makes sense of why she would jump at the chance to clear her name." Garahie concludes but is wrong as Rhea's intention was to find Krieg.

"I don't think she can do anything about that now, her reputation got notorious after that." She says referring to the asari's and Krieg's thieving days after their encounter.

"I know, the vids said it all. Her mother even left the Citadel to get away from the press. I guess people didn't realise how bad the human tabloids could be. We had trouble with them when I was with C-Sec."

"You were with C-Sec?" Zeki asks with interest and knows the Spectres are after him.

"Yeah, until I got caught in-between this mess. To think twenty days ago I was just a regular officer and then I had to get a bit curious." He says regrettably.

"This is your story then?" she clarifies with a hint of humour.

"All in all, I found Rhea before a Spectre did by accident though I was investigating something else. There was something that never added up and I took a risk, and now I'm here." He says briefly.

"Then why have you decided to help Rhea?" she wanders, "I mean, if she's trapped you could've escaped."

Garahie smiles to himself at the thought of leaving when he had the chance, "Probably, but what would be the point? The Spectres are after me and by the looks of things this Scythe is as well."

Zeki looks at what damage the tunnel has taken and remembers back to the building and its hole, "You know, that hole in the building where we came from reminded me of something, but what?"

"An attack?" Garahie says.

She gives off a face of confusion like the salarian had read her mind, "How did you know?"

"Rhea mentioned that this attack was similar to the one on Intai'sei and wants to check if there is anything of value."

Zeki lets out sigh as she continues through the tunnel with Difan following behind her, "Let's just hope she is safe."

Outpost K-3 was working a full-capacity as the drones of Krinal continue their duties and P.A. Unit-3 continues its supervisory role. Both Yox and Filestra were also present and watching as they know how tedious the task is but it was their orders and both know that Krinal's orders are law to them unlike Delphine who was still up in her chambers with her girlfriend. The asari was in her bed and on top of Liz as she thrusts her new toy into the human and she feels nothing but pleasure but isn't aware of the recent activity outside of their new home.

On the outskirts of the tower near the lake of debris are a large group of Bloodpack which were led by various krogan. The vorcha were kept in line by the bigger aliens while one of them begins loading a missile launcher and aims it towards the bridge so that whatever was in there couldn't escape. As it fires the missile travels through the air and hits the column of the bridge but when the smoke clears they see that no damage has been taken and the krogan look to themselves in confusion.

In Delphine's room the asari stops her fun when she hears the sound of the explosion, "What the fuck was that?" she says before getting up and heading towards the balcony and looks through the window to see that there were at least four dozen of them and her face turns to worry, "Shit."

"What is it?" Liz asks concerned.

"There's fucking people outside attacking the place!" she says panicking and knowing that she should be down a few levels with the other two.

Back in the facility below a red light begins to flash and noise follows it as Yox pulls out his assault rifle thinking someone was inside while the machine in charge seems motionless. Filestra watches as screen comes up on the orders of Unit-3 and they see from the security cameras that the Bloodpack have arrived.

"What are they doing here?" Yox wanders and curious of the machine's calm manner.

"Do not fear, Acolyte Yox. This is only minor problem."

"Minor problem? Your facility is being attacked. We should get ready for battle."

"No need. The tower does possess conventional defences but if you watch the screen you'll see one of our more favourable methods." It states as they all look to see.

As they watch the krogan and vorcha attempting fire more missiles the camera begins to shakes as the two Acolytes watch the ground outside beginning to collapse towards the Bloodpack's direction. None are quick enough as the slope forms and causes a majority of them to fall down while only a handful of vorcha manage to run away and from their krogan masters. Yox and Filestra are both puzzled and intrigued by this form of defence as it is not used by anyone. The ground then begins to reform around it and when the process is complete it looks the same as before.

"What was that all about?" asks Filestra.

"Emissary believes that those that attack us should not be wasted but will not have this facility attacked. The method you just saw swallows the krogan and vorcha alive and sends them to an undisclosed location for reasons that are the Emissary's alone." Unit-3 states before returning to its duties.

Filestra and Yox begin walking to the elevator, "That's strange even for Krinal."

"Sure is, but Delphine should have been here instead of fucking that girl in her room." Yox states annoyed.

"I can't believe Krinal brought that human here, she is distracting her from her duties." The turian says, "Maybe we should tell the Emissary?"

Yox stops her before she can enter the elevator, "No, I'll handle it. I know Delphine and her attitude towards these issues. She won't respond well to you telling Krinal what she hasn't been doing without warning."

"So you're going to talk to her?" Filestra asks.

Yox looks at her with reassurance, "When I'm through with her, she'll do her duties." He says before the elevator doors open and the two enter.

Unit-3 however is opening a channel to the Acolytes superior as a hologram appears in Krinal's liar. The machine is currently continuing its research into the Krieg clones it has created and waits for the drone aiding it to open a pod containing one of them. The grey alien's doppelganger lay motionless as the machine is free to cut down the corpse and open the flesh. Krinal then proceeds into taking out some of the vital organs starting with the intestines.

"Emissary, the Bloodpack once again attempted to take Outpost K-3. The regular procedure was utilized and they are now being sent to you." It informs.

"Thank you, P.A. Unit-3. How are the Acolytes?" it asks.

"Acolyte Yox and Acolyte Filestra have been performing their duties to optimum capacity."

Krinal turns to face the hologram, "And Delphine?"

"Acolyte Delphine has only completed 40% of what is required of her."

The Emissary sighs regrettably as he continues to dissect the clone, "I see. Inform her that if she does not perform her tasks that her friend will meet an unfortunate accident."

"Very well, Emissary." The Unit says before disappearing.

Zeki, Garahie and Difan are nearing the entrance to the Scythe base and the salarian was preparing while Zeki slows down with caution. Garahie takes his submachine gun and opens the door on his left side in order to begin aiming outside because from what he heard from Rhea there was most likely trouble outside of the entrance. Difan was just as alert as the male quarian pulls out a pistol that by the looks of it was custom-made with a black base and long barrel as the end. When they enter however they are in for a surprise.

The entrance was open but only partially and outside was the corpses and debris of numerous drones that had attacked. The Tri-Drones leading them were still active though had taken damage but not enough to take them down as they wait behind. The superior drones automatically target the two air-cars as they enter the space and roll towards them. Garahie is the first to fire as the salarian succeeds in shooting in-between the middle of one of their three sets of eyes.

While this Tri-Drone is disorientated another two Tri-Drones head towards the other vehicle where Difan exits and follows suit by shooting the drone between the eyes, showing an unmatched level of precision. Garahie and Zeki get out quickly and see that Difan is being overwhelmed and the salarian is intent on helping him. Zeki however by his surprise holds him to see what the other quarian was capable of.

As the Tri-Drone is about to bring one of its tentacles down on Difan, Garahie is amazed when he suddenly watches the very same limb broken off and on the ground. While Difan holds his pistol in his left hand he has pulled out another pistol of unique design. The pistol was just the grip though underneath it was a small clip inserted so shots could be fired through the small barrel above. However that was not what cut the tentacle as above that was a blade made completely of a red hologram. It was twenty-inches long and had a smooth edge for cutting but curved at the end.

Difan moves when the next tentacle comes for him though quickly uses this blade to vertically-slice it off. He then sees the weakness of the tubing that connects the moving ball to the tentacle ball and quickly slices it. When it falls to the ground he then stabs the drone and seems to have deactivated it.

When the next Tri-Drone comes for the quarian it grabs the right hand with intention to incapacitating the weapon. However Difan uses what strength he can to twist his wrist until he can aim for the drone's eyes and pulls the trigger. Instead of firing a bullet that the drone would simply absorb the bullet lands between another set of eyes as they begin to melt and short-circuit's it.

Garahie and Zeki approach the quarian and the salarian is amazed with technology, "What is that thing?"

Difan knows that he is referring to his own gadget, "This is a weapon my family has used for generations. The blade is holographic though I can increase or decrease the lethality and the barrel feature is something for desperate situations."

"You're one of Malal?" Garahie says knowing where such technology comes from.

"Difan'Malal, actually." He states before covering in the blade with a metal sheath which made it more compact and reduced the length by fifteen-inches. "Though, we are not exiles as many aliens believe."

"Whatever you are, you're lucky. These must have been the things I heard through the com-link when I was speaking to Rhea." The salarian says before looking at the door and sees that the drones were successful in opening the door but hadn't gotten through, "We'll they seemed to have only just opened the door. They must have had to do it manually."

"Maybe INC reprogrammed the code?" Zeki puts forward remembering Rhea's personal drone.

Gaarhie nods in agreement, "Most likely. Difan, can stay here and remain with the transports?"

"Okay, it might be worth checking out to see if you can regain your signal with Rhea. With those tank-things destroyed it may have cleared the jamming." He says before turning around and facing the tunnel expecting more danger.

Garahie opens a channel to Rhea though there is nothing but static to his disappointment. He sighs before kicking some of the deceased drones out of the way so that he can squeeze through the door and into the Scythe Enclave. Zeki follows and has two assault rifles to play with though she puts one on her back and holds the other encase anything surprises them.

When they enter they see only a hallway with lighting on the ceiling giving off a blue colour though some are flicking due to being caught in previous crossfire. There were also parts of drones on the floor as well while the two head down the path with their weapons aiming to whatever was inside. When they exit the hallway they find themselves in a foyer which unlike the appearance of the entrance was more pleasing to the eye. The foyer had steps heading down into a circular room and the columns holding this room were smooth and white while the walls had symbols in the asari language, though which one was unknown to them.

Zeki looks at these symbols and is interested in their beauty though her attention is quickly interrupted by Garahie who without saying a word points towards a set of steps which had stains of blue blood. Zeki knows that this could possibly be from Rhea as she takes a good look at the dried blood and scans it to find out if it belongs to her. When she is done she shakes her head as the results are negative when her Omni-tool concludes that these tracing were at least a month old, long before Rhea and her team entered the place.

"Whose blood do you think it is?" Garahie wonders as he takes a look around the foyer, "It's defiantly asari."

"But it's an asari base, and it was attacked. Maybe it came from the initial attack but why would this place be untouched while the outside was destroyed?" Zeki says confused, "I mean the elevator, the tunnel even the entrance showed sign of a weapon used, why not the interior?"

"It might have not been that simple. Perhaps the ruined building was meant to be a front or warning for others while the asari inside this place met a more horrid fate." He states before looking towards one of the two other doorways leading out of the foyer. "I'll check whether or not Rhea is available." He states before pressing his ear-piece and getting a different signal. At first he hears a loud screech and causes him to pull a face of annoyance before it clears completely and hears the sound of breathing, "Rhea?"

The other channel goes static for a few seconds again until a voice can be heard though only periodically, "…rahie… don't…something…Security…be out…" is all that is heard.

This has caught Zeki's attention as she approaches him, "That was Rhea, she must me in trouble. She's alive though."

"She said something, what something?" he says before hearing a sound above him and they both look up, "Shit."

With that as the last word they both dive to different sides of the foyer as landing in the middle of space is an abomination of Krinal's design. The thing in question couldn't be described as an animal but more a engineered piece of torture as the body this machine was nothing more than a sphere sprouting a set of five limbs with first joint pointing up and the second down. From these joints were addition spheres and repeated this process only smaller and with five more limbs instead to control the finale.

These five fingered spheres each had a wire attached to them and each was significant as each wire was embedded in the victim of this monstrosity. There were five asari attached to this machine's hands and were only clothed with what remained before they burnt and the wires were imbedded in specific points. Two were in the ankles of the asari and another two were in the wrists while the final wire was within the back of the heads. But this machine didn't use dead asari as the asari were being kept alive through wires as one looks at Zeki right in the eye with a face of pain and suffering though the wire is forcing her face to smile.

"Zeki, quickly! Follow me!" Garahie states while head towards the left doorway and fires his submachine to distract it.

Zeki however sees the closest asari reach out towards her and attempts to grab her though the quarian ducks and hit the alien in the face. The asari is then manipulated to give off a face of anger as her mouth open to reveal the other end of the wire. This part was pointed with three sides and it opened to reveal a blue light and ejecting from this is a liquid that is the same colour as asari blood. The manner in which it ejected gives the impression that asari is puking as it attempts to catch Zeki but she is nimble enough to dodge the first attack and roll underneath the living corpses.

Another of these attempts the same but Zeki fire the assault rifle and due to the nature of the wires, the asari is pushed back by the gunfire. This gap gives leeway to Garahie as he reaches his hand out and Zeki runs toward him before jumping into the doorway. The two begin to run when the machine lands one of the asari while still attached and forces it to run towards them though her movement is clunky and uncontrolled. Luckily for the two they are both good runners and the pair manage to outrun it long enough so the machine reaches its limit and the asari is halted by the wires but not before letting out an accidental regurgitation onto the floor though the pair see it as warning.

Zeki pants before standing straight and leaning on the wall, "What the fuck was that?"

Garahie is lost for words as he watches the asari being dragged back into the main foyer, "Must have been thing Rhea was warning us about." He says before realising that signal must be clearer now that they are deeper in. He presses his ear-piece, "Rhea? Rhea, are you there?"

"Garahie? You're okay? And Zeki?" Rhea asks concerned.

The salarian looks at the quarian, "She's fine. We just escaped from that thing. What is it?"

"Where are you and you can find out?"

"We took the left path from the foyer towards the West-Wing."

Rhea sighs, "Oh, we took the right to escape but we are in the Security Facility so we're safe. There should be a path that links the east-wing and west-wing not far down your end though I don't know if there are hostiles."

"As long as it isn't that thing, we're happy." Garahie says though knows it won't be easy.

"Okay, INC will patch through to your earpiece and it'll give you directions. INC, are you ready?" Rhea asks before a sound of channel switching is heard.

"Affirmative: Enter the room in front of your current position." It says as Garahie follows aiming his weapon as he looks at the door and presses the keypad and opening it to find only two regular drones. Zeki is able to cover while INC continues feeding directions to the salarian, "In this room there are four doors, one east, two north, one west. Take the right-door heading north."

Garahie nods and helps Zeki in taking down the drones though these machines are quickly backed up by three addition drones coming out of one of the air-vents. The room they enter while continue to fire their weapon was in was in fact a combat simulator as the room was huge and open so the two position themselves back to back and cover each other while Zeki takes on three and Garahie takes on two.

Zeki fires at the drones and is successful in suppressing their movement towards them but isn't doing any real damage so while she continues to fire she reaches with her free hand into one of the pouches on her belt and takes out a small ball with one half red and the other black. Pressing the button on the top she then throws it towards the group of drones and it automatically attaches itself magnetically to one of them and sends a surge through it and spreads even to the addition two as focus on resisting and not on the quarian.

"Location: There is a flight of stairs on the south-side of the room that leads to the observation room. This location connects with the East-Wing of the Enclave."

"Got it." He says before shouting to Zeki behind her, "Zeki, can you see a flight of stairs?"

"Yeah, watch my back and I'll lead you to them." She says while aiming for one of the drone's eyes and taking them out while walking. She begins to walk slowly towards the south-side while Garahie leans on her back and fires at the two remaining drones behind her as he takes one out and leaves the other. A few seconds pass before they reach the stairs and both face them while running up with Garahie firing a few shots towards the remaining drone.

Zeki shoots the keypad and the doors open as they enter the observation room and see that there is only one door which has to head to the East-Wing. They however seem to be attracting more company when more drones enter the Combat Room but as Garahie opens the door Zeki stumbles on an idea. She uses her omni-tool to hack into mainframe of the Observation Room switches on both the terrain and enemies to fight only increasing the lethality.

"That should keep them busy." Garahie says as he sees the drones combating holograms of races that were not asari in a volcanic environment. "Come on." he says as he leads her into the narrow tunnel that heads towards the East-Wing and Rhea's location and shutting the door behind them.

When the door is shut they failed to realise that in the middle of the tunnel was a Tri-Drone though it was motionless and by the lack light coming from its eyes meant it was destroyed. This becomes more apparent when the drone drops towards them and other side is complete destroyed via the method used by Ecroy. The frozen pieces shattered when it hits ground and the two both see on the other side are both Ecroy and Rhea who decided to meet them half-way.

Rhea smiles when she sees her quarian friend, "Zeki!" she says jumping over the machine's corpse and hugging her.

She returns the hug as they haven't seen each other for nearly two years, "Rhea, you're okay? Sorry we took so long."

Garahie interrupts, "I'm sorry also. I couldn't tell you that Zeki would take a while to get here because the signal jammed and I feared that coming alone would be a lost cause."

Rhea looks at the salarian and smiles, "Don't worry, it was the right decision. Besides, we've got bigger problems."

"We know, we've seen it." Zeki informs meaning the thing that was in the main foyer, "What is it?"

"I was the thing that's been blocking out signal all this time. The drones we've faced are more organised that previous encounters. This thing seems to be some sort of coordinator."

"How does things that big get in a place like this? Me and Zeki could barely squeeze through the door." Garahie wonders.

Rhea looks at Ecroy and are at first reluctant to say but feel they should know, "That thing was inside before we were. From what we've seen on security footage, it was no more than a decoration in the Enclave's foyer."

"Wait, so how does this link the flying turian?" Zeki wonders, "There was only damage outside of this place. We've found no asari corpses apart from what was on that thing."

"That's because the asari are gone, taken. Sintarrio, the thing from Intai'sei attacked the building from above while sending a signal into the base itself, activating an extraction programme. The drones aiding the asari restrained them, stunned them and transported them off-colony within hours. Those five you saw, were the Marquis and her four highest-ranked officers." Rhea reveals.

"Why didn't the drones take them?" Zeki asks.

"Because they're matrons. I think Krinal is only looking for younger asari because there are more years in them. Well, in theory." She says before looking towards the East-Wing, "But it doesn't matter. From the information we've found we have traced a recording from an attack on the planet Aite. It turns out that fleet of pirate ships attacked and destroyed a Scythe fortress which may have the information we're looking for."

"Travelling to another base? But if these asari aren't those responsible for those drones then we should focus on finding this Krinal." Garahie states.

"It doesn't work that way. Krinal doesn't have a direct location but if we use this data then we'll discover possible pattern." Ecroy informs before turning to Rhea, "We'd better get out of here. We may have to run a few miles through the tun-"

Garahie interrupts, "Actually, I have two air-car ready to take back to the shuttle. Zeki brought a friend."

"You don't know him but you can trust him." Zeki assures as Rhea nods in agreement, "We'll mostly likely have to take out that thing in the foyer."

"Tido and INC are already distracting it while we rendezvous. We'd better move." Ecroy says before leading the group towards the East-Wing.

Meanwhile not far away, Tido and INC are doing their best to distract the machine and its asari ilk. The drell is using his sniper rifle and is within the doorway that heads to the East-Wing while INC is constantly moving around the asari that are being controlled. The slaves continue to attack the drone by either reaching for it or attempt to accurately spit blood towards it but fail due to the smaller more compact build. The 'Slaver-Drone' is the one who suffers as it sense the brain of one of the asari isn't working anymore.

This is because Tido has successfully shot this asari in the head and ended her suffering but for Slaver-Drone it is of no consequence as she is just as useful dead as alive but has no expression on her face anymore. It then decides to take a different approach as it lands all asari on floor and forces them walk towards Tido who shoots them constantly in the bodies but nothing happens. One spits towards him and he dives to his left and out of the door way.

He has incidentally trapped himself as the asari corner him and he is left with nowhere to run until INC swoops down and allows Tido to grab it. The drone flies Tido to the other side of the room while the Slaver-Drone changes direction and repeats the process. Instead of walking the asari leap towards Tido and the drell dives out the way again while shooting one of the asari in the head and ending another life.

It's around this time that the other four arrive and are quick to aid the drell as they fire towards the machine and the asari. The five of them each take one asari while INC focuses on the machine. The drone is able to shoot the centre sphere of the machine causing it stagger while Rhea is successful killing her asari by individually shoot the limbs off the alien so that the Slave-Drone can't control her. This is follow by Ecroy who uses cryo-ammo to freeze the asari and punches her until she breaks.

Zeki throws another of the small red and black ball onto the asari and sending surge through her and into the drone which affects the whole machine as it begins to use the now free arms to hold itself up. Garahie and Tido finish off their asari not long after while the machine seems too helpless as all five walk towards the centre sphere with their weapons pointed.

"Five people and a drone to take down this thing. Shit." Ecroy says as he points his assault rifle and fires at it which freezes the shell. He then stomps on it which to everyone's surprise causes them to look at his armoured foot reveals what looks like fresh blood.

"What the-?" is all Zeki says before he removes it fully from the sphere and they all look inside to see an object of some kind though they are all confused. "What is that?"

Rhea with her knowledge of anatomy instantly recognises it, "Fuck, it's a brain." and steps way while not noticing that the machine was still active.

One of the fingers that went through the asari's limb grabs Rhea by the ankle and pulls her into the air before Ecroy can turn and charge in attempt grab her. As he reaches with his left arm another tentacle comes alive and immediately penetrates his wrist but while his body doesn't feel conventional pain he begin to grunt heavily. The group attempt to pull him away while the finger pulls him as well and game of tug-of-war begins and Ecroy begins almost screaming pain as his arm begins to emit smoke through the new wound.

"My arm! It's hurts! Quickly! Get out of here!" he says before he is release by an unknown force and falls back onto the group and Rhea dropped to the ground.

Standing where the severed finger is happened to be Difan who de heard the commotion from outside and used his personal blade as he sheaves it and reveals himself to the rest of the group, "Krogan's don't normally feel pain, but if they do it is normally bad." He says before turning to see someone familiar.

It was not Zeki but Tido as the drell stands up quickly and pulls his pistol and aims it toward the quarian, "You fucking bastard! What are you doing here?" he demands to know as he knows who this is.

Rhea gets up and is just as confused as Zeki, "Is this your friend?"

Zeki rubs her neck, "Well-"

Difan continues, "Tido, I just saved your life, and the krogan's, and Garahie's, Rhea's, and my wife's."

Rhea looks at Zeki in shock, "You're married?"

"Yeah." Zeki says innocently, "This is Difan, Di-"

"Difan'Malal vas Malal. Descendant of Malal'Tonbay, the one who refused the life of the Flotilla to create a grand legacy."

"He's a pirate!" Garahie says almost confused of why Tido has taken such a hatred for him, "Tido, what has this guy done to you?"

"It's not what I've done to him. It's what he owes us." Difan says glancing at Rhea, "We better get moving, quickly. I have contacted my ship and they will be here within a day."

"Oh, no! I'm not getting on your ship. Never!" Tido says agitated.

Rhea forgot that Ecroy needed aid but quickly crouches beside to see the finger still in his arm and quickly removes it before stopping additional bleeding, "We need to get you to the shuttle." She says as she helps him up with Garahie though it's a struggle. She also decides to address Tido, "Tido, you can either stay here or come with us."

"This guy is trouble, and that's a lot coming from me." Tido says as his normal care-free nature is compromised.

"Tido, I won't lie to you that Zeki initially sparked my interest in coming here. But I'm here to protect my wife, nothing more." Difan says looking at the barrel, "You know you owe us for what happened to Chek, he trusted you."

Tido breaths heavily and he reaches for a cigarette from his pouch and puts it in his mouth. He then takes his lighter and inhales before lowering down his pistol, "Fine, fine. Let's get out of here then." He says before glaring at Rhea while the group help the krogan to the air-cars outside of the Enclave, home to nothing more than dead machines.


	33. A Twist of Diplomacy

**Chapter XXXIII: A Twist of Diplomacy**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Zeki has finished telling her part of the story to Joker and the human is horrified by the description of the Slaver-Drone. He was surprised that someone would even think of doing such a thing or creating such a tool but didn't understand the purpose of it beyond jamming signals. Around this time both Rhea and Ecroy come out of the kitchen area and re-join the quarian as they take seats on the crouch.

Joker turns to Rhea, "Zeki just told me about the Slaver-Drone. I can believe that sort of thing would exist. Why would a Reaper create such a thing?"

"It wasn't Sovereign, it was Krinal. The Reapers have the Dragon's Teeth that seem to serve their purpose well enough." She states before letting her friend continue.

"When we jumped aboard the Malal, Tido was agitated. He had history with them and my father-in-law wanted to see him."

"So was he the Captain of this pirate ship? Seems odd that you're a quarian and there was a member of your kind stealing from people on mass."

"You have to understand quarian history before you say that. The name Tonbay is currently a name of a ship headed by Admiral Shala'Raan but the name itself is linked to the Malal." Zeki explains as she now bears the same name through her husband.

"Feel free to tell me. I know a bit about these tattooed krogan, I guess it's not surprising if there is a quarian pirate in the Terminus Systems." Joker says more open to new information.

Zeki sighs before speaking, "Malal'Tonbay was an engineer on Rannoch, our homeworld before the Geth War. He was entrepreneur during his time where he built ships for the government but was paid to do so. However, instead of spending his money on accessories and hedonistic pleasures he had plans for something greater. His final design was a ship of his own, the size of dreadnaught to make into a home or moving colony."

"Sound like he was an asset to Migrant Fleet?" Joker says before letting her continue.

"The ship took decades to build due to the fact that Malal had to wait for the credits and the use of quarian labour as he didn't trust the geth, and that would be his saving grace. When the geth began their uprising, Malal was on the other side of the quarian space with the ship. In order to help his people he allowed all of business employee's on board a long with their families. However when the Migrant Fleet began he refused the offer that was given to him to join the Admiralty board."

"Why would he do that? I thought he would want to help his people?"

"He did, but he was never one for politics and saw through them. They knew with Malal's enterprise in business and engineering, he could be used to build their new home. Malal refused and allowed whoever disagreed to leave his ship. In the end he had one dreadnaught-sized ship and over a thousand quarians. In three hundred years his descendant, Enti'Malal had a crew of eight hundred and the ship had been upgraded. It wasn't a dreadnaught, but it was juggernaut."…

**05/05/2160- The Malal Fleet, Tasale System, Crescent Nebula**

Not far from the Mass Relay that is used to enter the Tasale System is a group of seven ships. The six smaller ships were quarian cruisers but in the centre was a master piece of engineering. The Malal was the size of a dreadnaught but had strange shape.

The rear of the ship was composed of two horseshoe-like structures with one vertical and the other horizontal and meeting at the middle. Each direction had two exhausts and a central huge-exhaust at the meeting point. The rings however instead meeting each other towards the front are built into the bulk of the ship. The vertical horseshoe is built into a pyramid-shape with four sides while the horizontal horseshoe is built into two three-sided pyramids attached to the starboard and portside points of the ship and all three pyramids met at the nose.

From Tido's shuttle the group can see the armaments on the ship. The starboard and portside pyramids are covered on both their free sides with huge cannons while the top of the central pyramid had many as well though all of these cannons could be retracted at any time and give the impression the ship was unprotected. The ship was a white with hints of grey though the horseshoe parts were black with red strips on the outer sides.

Rhea looks at the ship in amazement from the pilot's chair while Zeki and Difan are next to her, "That's your ship? Those cannons could bombard anywhere?"

"My father, Enti is the Captain. Over the years we've added addition parts to the ship to make it more battle-effective. Originally it was just the central part and the vertical-ring. The ship is divided into six parts. The first is Centre where everyone lives, Starboard and Portside, home to our primary defences, and the two rings which help us move. The last is the engine room, which is between those two rings and attaches itself to Centre." Difan says with detail.

Rhea looks at Zeki next to her, "I can see why you married him." She says as joke and Zeki takes it with humour, "How big is your crew?"

Zeki answers, "Around eight-hundred though it's forever changing."

"But I thought you were on the Rayya? How come the Migrant Fleet allowed Difan on board?"

Difan looks at her, "Allow my farther to explain." He says before they carry on towards the underbelly of the Malal.

The shuttle crawls underneath the belly of a giant ship as a ramp opens to allow them to enter. As it enters inside the ramp closes hastily and lands on one of the free shuttle pads that are in the Hanger Bay. There was around twelve of these pads and each housing a shuttle of certain design that the quarians have either bought or stole from other races. The walls were a dark brown-yellow colour though much of it as well as the machinery were rusted though mixed with newer technology as well.

At the end of Hanger on other side of where the ramp is an elevator and opens two reveal at least two dozen quarians as well as their leader. This quarians was a muscular build and wore a suit made of black cloth with gold patterns while on his body he wore a long black tunic that was held by a black belt across his waste. His shoulders were armoured with black pads while on his left arm is currently using his omni-tool. He leads the crew towards Tido's shuttle and the crew themselves are diverse in look with different designs, weapons and armour pieces which make them more menacing to quarians on the Flotilla.

The Captain known as Enti'Malal sees the door of shuttle opening and first to step out is Difan, "Son! It is good to see you." He says with a strong accent.

"Father! Thank you for coming." He says before hugging his elder and allows him to grab Zeki's hands in gratitude.

"And it is good to see you, Zeki. You are always welcome aboard your family's ship." He says before seeing the rest of the group exit. He immediately sees Rhea and nods, "Rhea T'Anya? I've heard many things about you, good and bad. But you are welcome here."

"I am?" Rhea says looking at Zeki confused.

"Oh, of course. Your mother once defended my great-grandfather when accused of the sacking of a turian colony in Citadel Space. The case proved false but we have always been grateful. It's a small galaxy after all." He says shaking her hand positively before looking at Tido who has leans to this shuttle, "Though your company is questionable. Difan informed me and confirmed the Council's news that you were travelling with Tido."

Tido smiles and stands straight, "Listen, I don't want to be here, but I was given orders to come."

Enti looks at the drell head to toe, "Yes, Captain T'Anya has you on a leash." He says annoying Tido though he can't do anything. The Captain turns to Rhea, "Come to my Briefing Room. We all can discuss our current situations more amicably."

The group follow the quarian towards the elevator while Tido has to watch the crew scour his shuttle for security issues while Ecroy is currently holding his wrist which Rhea patched up a few days ago. When the group enter the elevator Enti presses the button for the third highest floor which was the bridge and connects to their destination. Tido eyes are on Enti though the Captain is unfazed by the manner of the drell as the elevator is quick to ascend and with half a minute the group are entering a hallway leading to the bridge but instead of heading forwards the group take and immediate right and enter a door where the group see a long table with chairs for them to sit while behind the head is a view of space outside.

Enti sits at the head of the table at the far end while Difan sits on his right and Zeki next to him followed by Rhea, Garahie and INC placing itself on the table instead. Ecroy takes the seat closest to Enti on the left and Tido sits next to him as they are awaiting one final guest. The group watches as the doors open to reveal a turian that Rhea of all people did not expect to see as it was Rhodius himself wearing an asari-tailored blue suit built for his race.

The group don't know of him but Rhea does as she looks and smiles before getting up and hugging her 'step-father'. He returns the smiles, "Hi. You're surprised I'm sure?"

"Vinel, what are doing here?" she asks amazed before sitting down on the closest chair.

He sits as well, "We got a message from Enti a few days ago when his son contacted him. He gave your name to Enti and he relayed an encrypted message to your mother. She however can't leave Thessia without someone watching her so I came instead."

"Thank you. How is my mother? Is the sickness gone?" she asks as she was sick before she left three years ago.

"She's fine. What Krieg done for her seemed to have worked though she does have nightmares from time to time. We've heard about some of the things you've done though I know you didn't kill Tylerria." He says with a hint of sorrow, "He was a friend and was only doing his duty to arrest you."

"I didn't kill him. I was out of Pinnacle Station before I heard what happened." She says with truth, "They pinned it on me though I wasn't the only asari arrested."

Zeki stands up, "It's true. Another asari was arrested, I was there." She says before sitting down receiving a comforting shoulder from Difan.

"Don't worry, I believe you. But there's another thing that brought me here. I've been having frequent calls from Spectre call Oristar Brutagus." Rhodius claims.

"I know. He's taken a keen interest on capturing me." she says before seeing the look on his face, "What is it?"

He doesn't says anything as the doors to room open once again as all see when entering the room with a quarian escort was Brutagus himself with Yentha by his side. The immediate reaction by Rhea, Tido, Ecroy, Garahie and INC are to pull their small fire-arms and point at the pair of Spectre though Enti, Difan and a confused Zeki don't move.

"Whoa, that's not a nice welcoming party. But it'll do." He says looking at the group.

Rhea looks at Rhodius feeling betrayed, "You brought him here?"

Rhodius stands, "They brought me here, and helped me get off-world to see you unnoticed."

"This bastard has been after me for three years, now he's right in front in me. Pulling the trigger is tempting." Rhea says looking at the Spectre with hatred.

Bruatgus smiles, "You're right I have been trying to find you though not for the reason you think."

"Enti, I didn't think a fucker like you would associate with dicks like this?" Tido says insulting him.

"Don't tease me, Tido. I don't talk to Spectres that often but what Brutagus has to tell you involves 'all of us'." He says before catching all of their attention.

Tension is at a climax within the room and Rhea is on the verge of pulling the trigger and ending it for the Spectre though she looks at Rhodius and he gives a face of reassurance. From this she puts Rhodius' own pistol but in her holster and looks over to the others. Ecroy is the first to lower his weapon as he knows that Brutaus knows Agon while Garahie is cautious at first but follows suit. Tido looks towards Rhea before nodding and sitting back down while Brutagus and Yentha both take seats towards the other end.

"So split it." Rhea says anxious.

"Sorry about what happened on the Citadel but it was my only chance in three years to find you. I have information that can help your cause and I know what it is."

"And what's that?" Rhea asks bitterly.

"The Scythe. What else?" he looks around to see if anyone is paying attention, "Believe or not most of you in this room have been either directly or indirectly in contact with the Scythe in some form, more specifically a person who goes the name 'Emissary'."

"Krinal?" Rhea says looking at the Spectre, "How did you find out about him?"

"Through you." He reveals as his interview with her lead him to the K-Thousand Facility, "Not long after I interviewed you, I pulled whatever information I could and through the Shadow Broker found the location of the K-Thousand Project four years ago. When I got there I found someone called Doctor Yanlo, who was one of the original team and had recently gone AWOL from STG out of fear."

"What did you find?" Rhea asks intrigued.

The turian smiles, "A lot and I need your help finding out more. From what I gathered, K-Thousand was a Council Project but didn't realise that the Scythe headed the team through Doctor Thenas."

Rhea joins the dots and thinks back half a year, "Krieg was correct, she was one of them. That's why he got paranoid before we went to Eden Prime."

Brutagus continues, "Well that wasn't all I found. The initial tests on 'Krieg' were extensive but it wasn't until I saw the video footage of what happened the pattern was starting to form. I don't know the exact time but Krieg, the real Krieg was replaced by a clone, the very same clone that Yanlo would kill with the help of Tido and your son, Enti."

"It was a success from I remember." Tido says thinking back to the incident before thinking deeply, "But it's funny that you mentioned an Emissary. A contact called the Emissary also gave me a job not too long prior to stage a break in."

Brutagus nods, "I know, Krinal hired you and Chek to break out the clone without you knowing but he committed an act before he escaped. From the research Yanlo discovered before he died, the clone was largely incomplete compared to Krieg himself. It was feral and committed more than just the killing of many C-Sec operatives. Thenas took samples of Krieg's sperm via an unofficial method."

"Krieg told me that too but wasn't happy about it. An asari called Delphine was forced to do it before she joined Krinal." She says and remembering the awkward tension at the time as well as being embarrassed about saying it in front of Rhodius.

"Yes, but when Krieg was replaced with the clone, the clone was more persuasive. I conclude that the clone used it biotics to force Delphine into a full sexual-encounter, explaining why she didn't like talking about in the interview." He reveals and opens Rhea eyes as why Delphine attempted the same thing with her.

She asks the question which she never got an answer from, "So where did they take Krieg? He was gone almost half a year before he came back."

Brutagus shakes head with disappointment, "I don't know but your machine may be able to decipher the rest of data I have and determine the location." "Another reason why I came here was because me and Yentha here recently took a trip to Omega in order to find more about you, Rhea."

Yentha continues and informs the group, "We saw you're friend Fayla but all she could tell us was that you were a rookie merc. However, Aria T'Loak was no better in that department but some information we were given sparked interest." She hesitates before continuing, "There is an armada of pirate ships on the other side of the Terminus that recently destroyed a base on Aite."

"We were heading there. And the fleet you're talking about INC was looking into." She reveals as the drone lay there motionless and watched all the organics in the room.

"We know. But not all ships joined this fleet." Yentha reveals before looking at Enti.

The Captain of the ship nods, "The Emissary contacted us about year ago with a proposal but we refused on moral grounds. Not long later my son goes missing on a botched raid of weapons with Tido. Tido escapes and my son is either taken or dead."

"So that's why you didn't talk about him?" Rhea says surprised at the circumstances as the Drell seems distant.

The drell slams his hand on the table in frustration, "I didn't want too, okay! After that I get a message from you, Enti and I had to flee the Terminus again to work for small-fry like Iochus until you got board of me. But now Iochus is dead along with a few in his circle."

Brutagus nods and knowing of what's happened, "Norim, we know. Norim has taken over Iochus' gang and has seemed to pledge loyalty to a single individual who is in charge of this fleet. Yentha used her contacts to listen in on some of these criminals and they've referred to two people. The first is the Emissary and the other is a guy called Sedath."

"Sedath? Who is he?" Rhea wonders though Krieg has seen him on Invictus.

Yentha answers, "We don't know but if we find him, we'll find Krinal."

Rhea reaches into one of her pouches and passes Brutagus the chip that Tido gave her and has information about Iochus on it, "Tido gave me a small memory chip before we left the Citadel. That may be useful too."

"I take it you'll be happy to work with us then?" Bruatgus asks as he takes the chip.

"Temporarily. I'm looking for Krieg. Help me find him, and I'll trust you." She states before looking at Rhodius, "Sorry you got involved in this."

The former General smiles, "Don't worry, when Brutagus gave me visuals of 'Sintarrio' it sparked my interest greatly. Enti can patch you through to your mother when you want to speak to her. I suggest you do, she misses you" he says as they watch Enti stand up.

"Right, everyone get some rest. Difan, find some quarters for them to stay in." he says before watching his son and daughter-in-law leave with Tido, Ecroy, INC, Rhea and Rhodius while the Spectres stay. When the doors close he says one more statement, "You remember our deal. Find out what happened to my son. I've done my part, you must do yours."

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Brutagus wasn't trying to arrest Rhea, but wanted to help her." Zeki says before looking at the asari, "He knew a lot about the Scythe since he got tangled in all those years ago."

Joker pulls a face of intrigue, "So, you had more allies than you realised? You had Ecroy and his krogan, Brutagus and Yentha as Spectres, Garahie, Tido and these Malal. I bet you were happy?"

Rhea chuckles at the question, "At that point I was happy to know things weren't so complicated on the allies and enemies side. Our next however was more difficult. The shuttle that Krinal could use to track us was a problem."

"How? Did someone notice what Juna did?"

"No, so we still used it. Tido didn't have a choice but donate it to Enti while the systems were re-written by the crew of the ship. We didn't find out until a after the first mission." Rhea informs.

"So what happened? Was there a problem?"

"Yes, there was a problem. Krinal's Fleet covered the whole of the Phoenix Massing and Hades Nexus. It made travel there impossible." She says taking a sip of her coffee.

Ecroy continues, "Besides, time on the ship gave us time to resolve some issues."…

**10/05/2160- The Malal, Skepsis System, Sigrund's Cradle**

Ecroy is sitting in a confined space as the quarians have allocated them a few rooms to use while they stay her. The krogan sits on a chair with the top half of his armour removed and is currently peeling off the bandages that Rhea placed on his wrist. Peeling slowly his species high pain thresh-hold causes him to look at the wound with interest because the wound has healed to a degree but instead of healing through natural means the skin around the hole has turn pale with hints of grey.

He sees Garahie near the doorway and covers his wrist with one of his gauntlets, "Hey, Garahie?"

The salarian turns as he is walks past to catch the krogan, "Yeah?"

"Where's Rhea?" he wanders while grabbing a cloth and pretends to polish his armour, "Brutagus wants to see us later."

"She is talking with her mother along with that Rhodius. You feeling okay?" Garahie asks as the krogan's face is paler than usual.

Ecroy nods, "I'm fine."

Down the hallway Rhea was inside her room and was sitting on the bed while in front of her is a small screen with the other end showing the face of her mother, Vessana. Rhodius was also in the room standing up and watching the conversation between the two of them before walking out and leaving the two alone. When door shuts the conversation continues.

"I can't believe what's happened to you. To think, three years ago you were living with me." Vessana states while thinking back to those times.

Rhea smiles but doesn't look at her though she is light years away, "I'm sorry you have to live like this, mother. I've disappointed you."

"No, you've done what you have to do but the things the Council accused you of. I was pretty much cornered to leave the Citadel. How have you been these past few years? How is Krieg?"

Rhea wishes she could answer the question, "Krieg disappeared a few months back but I don't know why. He was meant to keep contact but the something was blocking them."

"So you don't know where he is?" Vessana says surprised, "Well I'm sure he will find you. He was quite fond of you."

Rhea think back all the awkward moments she had with him though that is not what she meant, "I know. How have things been going with Vinel?"

"Very good, he's great. It's strange having a partner after all this time and he's happy, which is more important." She says before continuing, "Vinel has had decades of the Military life and we never got together because of that, until he retired. Now he's everything I hoped for. Anyway, it was good talking to you. You be careful. I love you."

"I love you to, mother." She says before the visual on the screen fades. The asari stands and opens the door to find Rhodius in the doorway conversing with Ecroy though the subject matter is delicate as it involves Ecroy's people and their history.

"So you people are unaffected?" Rhodius asks interested.

Ecroy nods, "Yes, I'm capable of having a child. But don't think that Hierarchy could find us, we're too well hidden."

Rhodius leans back on wall and smiles, "Don't worry. If anything, if the Council knew they would try and use you as a bargaining chip against the rest of your kind. They wouldn't repeat the Genophage, it would be a breach of their laws."

"That's a liberal view for a turian? Surely many would disagree?" the krogan says surprised.

"True, but when you've served as long as I have, opinions change. Are you Clan-based like the other krogan on Tuchanka." He asks him.

Ecroy crosses his arms, "No, we're actually ruled by a governing body of wisemen called the High Lords. The one I serve under, Tovoh is very old but will one day will name a successor to his position."

"How many of these High Lords are there?" Brutagus wanders as it sound prestigious.

"Not many, but they only deal in affairs that affect us as a whole. Most of governing of laws is left to our Military. Every krogan that's born into our community has to serve a century in the services before they can continue their lives." He reveals meaning his life as soldier was mandatory.

"Sounds almost dictatorial?" Rhea says adding to the conversation.

Ecroy laughs and understand what she means, "The military don't just teach us how to fight; they administer the apprenticeship-programs, experience that will help serve us after your term is up. The apprenticeships range from construction, engineering, to even social work."

"What about you?" Rhea wanders.

"I chose an apprenticeship in agricultural development though I never decided to leave the Military. I served for three-hundred and thirty-two years." He says and surprising them twice.

"Don't you get board of serving a military that doesn't fight an enemy?" Brutagus wanders because an isolated civilisation wouldn't integrate with anyone else.

"You'd think, but they have been wars among our krogan as well. The biggest was Archano Rebellion. It was an uprising of second-generation krogan who believed that they had right to tell the other krogan about our existence." He reveals meaning that there were detractors and critics of the High Lords.

Brutagus sees parallels with the Unification War when hearing this, "I see, I remember hearing reports of krogan skirmishes in the Terminus that alerted us to you tattooed krogan."

"Indeed though we're just a legend to many. The Archano supporters alerted some krogan to our presence but they couldn't join them." He reveals and why most krogan know of them.

"They couldn't join their own kind? Why?" Rhea wonders confused of why they wouldn't accept fertile kin.

Ecroy continues, "Because they weren't krogan in their eyes, they're traitors. The Archano rebels began to establish themselves as a new Clan with their own rules. They took over a small colony we had and it was fifty years of conflict. Eventually a General known as Calku quilled them. They're nothing more than a terrorist faction now."

"What happened to the POW's?" Brutagus asks interested.

Ecroy is hesitant at first but reveals the truth to them, "The military castrated three of their testicles to reduce the chance of conceiving. In order to remain secrecy in the galaxy the High Lords introduced legislation limiting the birth-rate. We know the flotilla has similar policy."

"So that's why you haven't attempted an invasion? You think too many of them will be uncontrollable?" the turian inquires with caution in his question.

"Exactly, if your child dies you're free have another but after the Archano Rebellions killed hundreds of thousands of us the policy was lifted for a period through there was still monitoring."

"What's you're long term goal?" Rhea asks him because Tovoh's never revealed it.

"The High Lord's stated that we're not krogan in the conventional sense anymore but have no need to apologise to the others for fleeing the Genophage. One day we may be able to open relations with Tuchanka, buts it's a two-way street as the Council would say." Ecroy states.

"To think how we've all changed." Brutagus says as tension in the galaxy now at an all time high.

"You could say that but then somethings never change." Ecroy says to the turian before turning to Rhea, "I've spoken to Agon, you've have Tovoh's support in this operation."

"Thanks, we'll need a lot of help if we're going find Krinal." She replies though sees they are the only ones within this area. "Where is everyone?"

"Garahie went get some food with Tido. INC is still decrypting that data. Brutagus wants to meet all of us later tonight." He says before leaving the two alone.

Brutagus crosses his arms and smiles at Rhea, "Interesting allies you have now. Krogan with different ideologies, quarian pirates, Spectres. You're leading quite a team."

She is taken aback by this and hesitant to reply, "Leading? I don't think so."

Brutagus stands straight and puts a hand on her shoulder, "You say that but even that Tido follows your order with loyalty in mind. Krieg obviously taught you well."

Rhea thinks back to what Krieg taught her and doesn't feel a connection, "Krieg taught how to defend myself, not to lead."

"But by teaching you that, you've blossomed. See you later." He says before leaving the asari alone to ponder on his words.

On the same floor as the Briefing Room down the other hallway is a place where Brutagus, Yentha and INC have situated themselves. The dark grey room was circular in shape and had many wires and tubes hanging off the ceiling but against the walls are equipment to aid the Spectres with consoles set up and a holographic wide-screen. In the centre of the day dank room is a circular holographic interface that can open screens or 3D objects though this technology is normally found in dreadnaughts of the Council races.

INC is attached to the circular table via its small tentacle which is inserted into a port also with three memory data-chips belonging to Tido, Brutagus and Rhea and the machine is currently analysing the data.

Brutagus watches the screens in the centre, "This information is more than we could have hoped for. INC's managed to locate the planets Scythe Chapters are on." He leans in looking at the various 'terrorist attacks' that have occurred, "Krinal is disguising the actual attacks as mere isolated incidents to avoid detection. Four Enclaves must have fallen and these others must be ready to fall."

Yentha takes a look to with interest, "Most of these are in Asari Space. The other faction are taking out the strongest areas and isolating the others. But from the data Rhea retrieved, Krinal isn't killing the asari. The drones are collecting them."

"But for what? I guess Aite was the first place Krinal attacked, it'll probably have the most answers." He asks before watching the doors opening and entering is a large group consisting of Enti, Difan, Zeki and another quarian wearing a black cloth and blue straps while he dons a cape like Difan only this one covered both shoulders.

"Oristar, may I introduce Yero. He is my nephew and leads my finest men." Enti says watching them shake hands.

"An honour to meet a Spectre." He says before letting go.

Brutagus observes him, "And who do you lead?"

Yero smiles under his visor, "Snipers, many snipers. We're scouts but crack-shots."

Brutagus looks at Enti, "Why would I need scouts?"

Enti puts his hand on Yero's shoulder, "For your mission. Yero and his men are the backbone of this ship. Without them we are nothing. They'll be a great asset to your cause."

Brutagus examines the quarian who looks considerable older than both Difan and Zeki, at least in his forties, "Okay, we'll use them. When are the others coming up?"

"Rhea's got the others and is on her way up." Zeki says while holding Difan's hand and two take a pair of stools to sit down.

The others also take a seat as Enti and Yero both take chairs next to their kin while Brutagus and Yentha remaining standing. They observe their findings for a few minutes more before entering the room is the group of four consisting of Rhea, Garahie, Ecroy and Tido along with Rhodius. Tido sits on a chair and takes out a cigarette while Garahie remaining standing and Ecroy crosses his arms with interest but hiding his wrist. Rhea stands next to Brutagus and INC while a picture of Aite appears in front of them and next to it a screen of the Phoenix Massing Cluster.

"This is it? This is the planet that was attacked?"

"Yes. Aite is planet that isn't Council Space and close to Geth Space, too close in fact that's why it's unstable. Getting there won't be a problem but the base itself is." Brutagus says zoom into the northern hemisphere to see what looks like a normal settlement but not the size of City, more of a town. "This former fortified-settlement was subject to orbital bombardment but that's not all, the settlement itself had a reputation of being very closed-in. No one outside knew much about it except that the people living in it were asari."

"Why would they have a town as a base? It's too open?"

"It's a diversion to avoid suspicion, most likely the town has lower levels like you found on Illium but from what INC had stored in itself, the place is crowded with drones. Not only that, there seems to be three frigates surrounding the place with hundreds of batarians who have pledged loyalty to Krinal."

"You won't be able to infiltrate the place yet. You'll have to take time." Rhodius says from a General's point of view. He takes a better look at the map, "If you alert them to your presence they could most likely warn the Fleet and they'll come for a second round."

"What do you suggest, General?" Yentha asks intrigued by his view.

"I would leave this operation for at least two months."

"Two months? That's too long!" Rhea says in protest though the others are calm.

Rhodius waits to continue, "Two months can give you a plan both strategically and in resource. The operation should start now but only for reconnaissance purposes. Two months living in the environment can give you a 'real' view of the landscape, any hidden entrances outside of this place. It'll also give you a chance to update on any additional activity that happens. If you go in now, you're going in blind."

"Then I'll go in advance and update you." Rhea says volunteering.

Yero gets of his stool, "With all due respect, this is a job for me and my men. When we plan an operation we go ahead and take out as many possible targets as we can before the others go in. a group of twelve can distract them for two months. We can do nothing about those drones but the pirates would be no problem."

"I don't trust this to you, whoever you are. I need to be there." Rhea says before watching him put his hand on the table.

"Then we'll take Tido." He says as they all look towards the smoking drell.

Tido smiles as he exhales before laugh, "You really think I'll fall for a set-up? You'll kill me out of revenge."

Enti intervenes on his nephew's behalf, "No, he won't. Chek said you are a sniper so you'll fit right in with these people. You'll need some new wears though."

"What's wrong with this?" Tido asks referring to his yellow sleeveless armour.

Enti looks at the worn-torn and shakes his head, "It's too old and restricted. I'll get the tailor to make a new suit, though only for this mission."

Tido looks at Garahie and Ecroy before referring to Rhea and her face is that of trust before nodding, "Fine, but I don't eat thw shit quarians eat."

Enti nods, "Of course, I'll get you some-"

Tido stands and interrupts, "I don't want any of your food either. Aite should have stuff to hunt for. I'll survive."

Rhea looks at the others who all seem agreeable with this plan as she looks at Brutagus, "Okay, Tido and Yero's snipers will head to Aite, but take Tido's shuttle. Maybe if the drones see the shuttle then they'll think that we're all there." She gets a nod in agreement from everyone as they all seem to stay still.

Enti knows what they waiting for as he stands in casual manner, "Dismissed." He says and many leave while he watches Rhea walk out and quickly approaches her, "Rhea, can I talk to you?"

"Sure?" she says as the cloaked quarians leads her out of the room and down the small hallway before taking a left towards the bridge, "What do you want to talk about?"

She is led into a huge room with a view of open space and among the bridge are at least eighteen quarians manning the ship and keeping it running from this area while at the top is Captain's Chair as Enti sits on it while direction Rhea to the one on his right. She sits down and notices to the view of the star outside while below the circular balcony the rest of crew continue their duty.

"Do you like this ship?" Enti asks.

"It's very nice. What do you want to talk about?"

"That chair you sit on, it belongs to my son, Chek."

"The one who worked with Tido?" she wonders, "Tido never wanted to talk about him."

"No, he didn't. It's his fault that he is missing. I know he is not dead but I…I know Tido most likely didn't mean for this happen but it's his fault."

"What happened to Chek?" she asks interested in what Tido's history is.

"I've known Tido for over thirty year since he was a teenager. He was killing then as well. Chek was young but Tido took him under his wing as my son was a gifted tech expert. Chek wasn't on his pilgrimage like most quarians but decided to take one and worked with Tido, until last year. Apparently they were going to steal a huge supply of turian food and weapons from a cargo vessel with the intention rendezvousing with us. The job array and Chek was left behind. We tried to find Tido but he escaped too quickly."

"So you want him repay his debt?"

"Yes, but Brutagus and Yentha are going help find Chek in exchange for me helping you. You can go now." He watches as Rhea stands and before she can walk out he has one more thing to say, "Oh, Rhea. This is your operation, not mine." He says with an underlying message.

A few hours later in the lower levels Rhodius is packing his things as he didn't bring too much equipment with him when he arrived. He puts a few clothes into his suitcase and puts it on the bed in the dark room. He also has an additional smaller case but unlike the cylinder-shape of the bigger case this was a simple flat and rectangular. Rhea is also on the floor and has one of the crates belonging to Tido in her room. The crate happened to be fall of cigarette boxes he stole and why he doesn't run out.

She takes a packet and takes out of one of the cigarettes before putting it in her mouth but realising that she doesn't have a lighter. She looks around in frustration until a light is thrown her way as she captures it. She looks at the Zippo-made piece of engineering and sees the insignia on the side, The Alliance's.

She looks to see Rhodius in the doorway holding the smaller case he brought, "I didn't know you smoked."

Rhea takes it out of her mouth, "Occasionally. This is a human lighter."

"A souvenir from three years ago. When the skirmish was over, I gave a soldier I met my recruitment locket and he could only give me this."

Rhea looks at the back of the lighter and sees only the last name, Williams. "Who was he?"

"A General like me, only he surrendered." He reveals before looking at his pistol which he gave to Rhea around that time. "I was wondering if I could get my piece back?"

Rhea looks at the pistol and feels it's been through enough with her as she takes it and passes it to him, "There, that's been through a lot."

"No doubt." He says taking a grip and aiming it before passing her the case, "A present from me and mother."

Rhea takes the case with suspicion and puts on the bed. When she opens it she is surprised with the contents and smiles as she didn't expect a gift like this from her mother. It was a new pistol and custom-made as the grip was perfect for hand and a black colour while inside was a space to load a clip of any-fashion. The barrel was long but built with an arch and underneath was a slot to hold an additional clip. The colour of the pistol was grey and also had addition pieces for certain situations such as a square-built silencer and a attachable rest for the shoulder for sniping purposes and assault purposes.

She takes the pistol out and admires it, "Where did you get this from?"

"I had it made for you. I took personal interest in its development. It's the only one of its kind." He says before receiving an unexpected hug. "You take of that, and make your mark with it. Since only Tido, Yero and the snipers are going to Aite, Brutagus and Yentha have offered to take me back to Thessia."

"Good, you'll be safer there." Rhea says before putting the pistol down, "Give her my love."

"I will. Goodbye, Rhea." He says before walking out and seeing Brutagus approaching the former-general and nods to Rhea before they both head for the elevator. Rhea sighs before using the lighter to aid her in smoking as she inhales the smoke before quickly exhaling.

Tido is also smoking but his location is down the hallway from Rhea. He is currently keeping himself to himself while he inhales the smoke and lets it out slowly. He watches as Garahie and Ecroy are both conversing with each other while at the other side of his sight he can see Difan and Zeki both having a more private moment as the quarians had their masks off and on a nearby crate while exchanging tongues.

Tido sees Rhea approaching with a cigarette and smiles when she sees Zeki though her friend doesn't notice them, "That's cute. I can't believe she's married."

Tido nods, "Well, it's Difan who should be fortunate. Many quarians come here during their pilgrimage and many don't leave due to the pirate-life and its assets. However many of the women on this ship wanted Chek and not Difan."

"Why do you say that? Difan's not attractive to them?" she wanders and not knowing the politics.

"This ship is the legacy of Malal'Tonbay, and only Malal child can inherit it. Enti'Malal was originally named Enti'Zolik but his mother and he were direct descendants of Malal. His older sister was inherit the ship but decided not to for a life helping the Flotilla and Enti inherited it from there. He took the family name as his own after that and had two sons, Chek and Difan. Chek is to inherit this ship though his lifestyle with me hasn't made him the Captain that Enti wants him to be. As the oldest, every time we came on this ship, women tried to seduce him." Tido states before inhaling again.

"So Difan will never be Captain? But at least he has someone who loves him." Rhea states before looking at Tido's face and sees remorse, "Have you fell in love?"

Tido smiles, "Once, and that was enough."

"What was she like?" Rhea wanders.

Tido seeing Rhea face realises his has given the wrong impression, "Oh no, she's still alive. However I haven't seen here in years, it is better that way. That's the bad blood between me and Norim, it's his sister and he's the uncle to my son." He reveals regrettably.

"You're a father? And you've never seen him?" she asks.

He shakes his head, "No, for his safety. The fact that he is my son makes him a stain on Norim's family. If anything he would kill him if his sister wasn't still alive."

"So why did you work for him on the Citadel?"

"I worked for Iochus but not only that I had dirt on Norim and exchanged a deal, my son's safety for his reputation. Though now he couldn't kill him because he is responsible for Ferrul's death and incidentally Iochus and his hanar master."

"I'm sorry about that. I didn't realise." She says taking a smoke.

"You see now why I have kill Norim?" he says before leaving her to her own devices though before she can be left alone she grabs his hand.

"You sound stressed?"

She grabs his hand and leads him to her room and shuts the door behind them, locking hastily before she pushes him on the bed and climbs atop of him. As they kiss they each proceed to take off a piece of clothing. He takes off his mess-shirt and she takes off hers exposing herself but leaning in as she continues and lies him on the bed. Rhea reaches down his body until she feels his member through his armour and slides down to undo his belt. Tido puts his hand on her head when he feels her and leans his head against the bed and lets out a groan.

While they are just getting started, Zeki and Difan have just finished as they each put their masks back on and continue to hold each and know that each other. They are smiling as Difan feels his crouch being felt by Zeki. He in return gooses Zeki to her surprise as she giggles and rests her head on his shoulder.

"That was worth it." She says looking back up to him, "I've told Rael'Zorah where we are, he understands."

"Good, I have you all to myself." He says before rubbing her shoulders, "I'm happy to be home too."

"You didn't like it on the Rayya?" she wonders holding his hips, "You agreed to come with me."

"Yes, but the people there didn't like me, you know that? Despite all that my father, his mother, her father before that has done for them, they still see us as nothing more than pirates." He says before sighing, "But at the same time they were afraid of me, because I represent what they don't. I agreed to join you on the Rayya because I love you."

"And I love you." She says before letting him go and continue doing his duties.

The next day in an observation room within the hanger-bay, Rhea, INC, Ecroy, Garahie, Zeki and Difan watch as a group led by Yero are climbing aboard Tido's shuttle and the drell himself is finishing of his cigarette.

In order to blend in with his quarian escorts the drell wears a new set of attire consisting of an under-mesh of skin-tight quarian clothing while he wears boots made from varren-skin and a hood of the same material. His under-mesh is covered with armour-plates with a greenish-camouflage design and his hood and boots were of this colour as well. He has also been given a visor to cover his eyes.

He carries his pistols in their holsters and his sniper-rifle in hand when he climbs onto the shuttle and door shuts. The ramp that leads into space opens slowly and shuttle begins to take off but is steady as they wait for it to open and when it does it escapes the dreadnaught and heads for the Mass Relay.

"Two months." Rhea says before taking a cigarette and inhaling.

"Yeah, Brutagus and Yentha are going to get as much intel as possible before the operation begins. I've also updated Agon on our progress." Ecroy says while the others begin to leave.

"Good, let's hope we're ready." She says before exhaling against the window.


	34. A Finely Woven Plan: Part I

**Chapter XXXIV: A Finely Woven Plan: Part I**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea exhales the smoke as she and her friends have told Joker about their time on board the Malal and their plan to visit Aite in two months rather than straight after Illium. Joker takes a sip of his coffee that Rhea made for him while she also has made another one for herself. The group continue to drink and sit on the couch while Rhea inhales again and begins to continue her story.

"Bruatgus and Yentha had been looking for us because Brutagus had found the K-Thousand Research Base and discovered a portion of its secrets. He needed to find me or Krieg because we could uncover the rest."

"So you made the Malal your base of operations? Was the Captain happy with that?"

"Enti was fine with it, besides everyone had an angle. Enti and Difan wanted Chek to be found and confirmed on whether he was dead or alive, Tido wanted free of his debt to them, Ecroy was acting on behalf of his superiors and Rhea wanted Krieg. Brutagus' diplomacy bought everyone together and Rhea led us." Zeki says on their behalf.

"And a two month operation was the start? Who went to Aite?" Joker inquires.

"There were two teams, Pyro and Cryo." Rhea reveals as they are the names of her current teams on the Citadel, "Pyro Team consisted of me, Difan and INC acting as infiltration. Cryo Team was made up of Brutagus, Yentha and Garahie on reconnaissance."

"Where were you two?" Joker asks referring to Zeki and Ecroy.

"I was deployed to Aite a week prior to discover what happened to the scouts lead by Yero. He said a few days before Tido attacked them in an efbase to escape." Ecroy states meaning he was there the whole time.

"And I was with the shuttle acting as the getaway pilot, encase something unplanned occurred." Zeki reveals.

Rhea continues, "So, we had our plan. And we were ready."…

**18/07/2160- Aite, Typhon System, Phoenix Massing**

A quarian shuttle is flying through the planet's atmosphere and underneath the clear night sky is a valley covered in forest with mountains to the east and a lake to the west. The terrain despite having plant life was full of cliffs and streams leading to a great river and then to the lake. The town disguised as a Scythe base was to west as well and beyond the lake though was currently surrounded with a different presence.

Watching the world outside was Rhea who wears a stealthier suit compared to her colossus armour. Her body was covered in quarian material with thin plates on the ankles, thighs, stomach and chest, and arms while her back had apparatus to hold weapons. However on her back was a back-pack situated in the middle and similar to the ones used by Magnusson and his Alliance Marine Strike Team when they tried capturing her on Eden Prime. The weapon she carries is the new pistol Rhodius gave to her which can be modified when need be. The other pieces of this custom-made firearm are situated on a utility belt. She also wears a helmet for the jump.

The other person standing in the shuttle is Difan as he wears his armour-suit without his cape but is more heavily armoured than usual as he wears similar plating to Rhea. On his back is similar equipment to Rhea only he has additional piece underneath for his own food supply. He carries both his personal pistol in his holster and built above it was his pistol that doubles as a blade as well. On his back is a sniper-rifle and on the back of his waste is a shotgun.

INC as the final member waits on a chair next to Rhea while Zeki is piloting the shuttle and speaks to the other two via headsets in their helmets, "Cryo Team have landed in forests to the north and will survey the weaknesses around the base. You know your drop-zone and your mission?"

"Yes, rendezvous with Ecroy and the rest of Yero's guys." Difan says before opening the doors ready to jump.

"Oh, Difan. You look sexier without the cape." Zeki says making Difan smile as he and others are ready to jump out.

The three of them exit the shuttle and dive towards the forests near the mountains. Within seconds they are ready deploy their means of getting to ground safely as the pair press the button on their chests and springing from their backs come parachutes and they begin their second task which was directing themselves towards their intended target. They direct themselves near a stream where there was some open land for their safety with INC flying towards the edge of the forest.

Difan is first too get on his feet as he immediately hops to ground and retracts the parachute before he pulls out his pistol while Rhea lands twenty metres away and does the same. The asari is quick to rebuild her weapon as she attaches the rest for her shoulder on the back of the grip and an extended piece on the end of the barrel which had an additional grip for her if she wanted to it more like an assault rifle. She ends her conversion with a suppressor and Difan puts a similar device on his pistol.

She approaches him and INC as they enter the forest, "Well, that went well. INC, bring up the map." And the machine obeys by bringing up the map of the land they are currently in. She points north. "Okay, Cryo Team have already dropped and are making their way west towards the Scythe Base. From there they will observe what's going on and how many there are. We will head down the mountain west through the forest and rendezvous with Ecroy who should be with Yero's guys."

"What about Tido?" Difan asks while aiming his pistol towards the forest.

"He would have found a way off-world by now." She says with a hint of regret, "Forget him. Let's get moving." She says before leading them into the forests. "INC, how many miles to the rendezvous point?"

"Answer: Seven miles." INC states as it hovers ahead to lead them to their destination.

Meanwhile in the north, Cryo Team have made good progress as they are reaching the end of the forests and towards the lake in west. Brutagus is leading the two others while Garahie covers the rear until they get a good view of the lake from the hill above and from there the base itself. All of them have look of shock and despair as the place still had scars from the bombardment months prior. From the west side of the lake onwards there was nothing but dirt and marks from orbital attacks as the group continue heading in a western direction towards a small mountain to take point and see what they are up against.

"This place has been massacred and sacked afterwards." Yentha says looking at some of the smoke still emitting from the place, "There's more ships here as well. They must come after Yero's warning. Do you think Tido tipped them off?"

"If he has, then Pyro Team could be heading into trouble. Tido knew their positions and might have exchanged them for an off world trip." Brutagus says as they continue their way towards the mountain, "That mountain will give us a better view of the defences. If you have kill anyone, do it quietly." He informs.

Little do they know that they are being watched by something in the water. Slight sounds can be heard and Garahie flinches while turning to point his submachine-gun towards the lake and looks carefully before turning to the two Spectres who are confused with the salarian's manner. Brutagus silently orders him to follow him and he is reluctant at first but finally stands down as he follows the other two. Garahie was wright to be suspicious as a small light appears at the edge of the lake, then another after it and this continues until there is about twenty.

Rhea and Difan are following INC and the two are ending their travels as they reach a dead end near a cliff where below the river they landed near continues towards a small water fall and landed on shallow ground before meeting another cliff in turn as the water meets another river. Difan volunteers to hang on while INC lowers the quarian down and let's go with last ten feet. As INC hovers back above for Rhea, Difan keeps on guard as unlike the two above he hears sounds that are too familiar to him as he turns towards a patch of forest and then the waterfall itself.

He is wright like Garahie was to be suspicious as something grabs his foot from underneath and attempts to bring him off balance but he holds firm and pulls out his pistol blade to slice whatever got him off. He takes it off his ankle and reveals it to be a drone's tentacle and immediately looks up to Rhea and signals her to stay put.

She stops to see that from the places where Difan looked are Krinal's drones and they're approaching in which she immediately sets herself in a lying position and takes aim. She watches as the drones using the tentacles to climb down from the trees and though the cracks under the waterfall. Difan is ready with both his pistol and pistol-blade as the total number of eighteen drones are about to face him.

Difan shoots the first drone with his pistol-blade and the acid that emits from the shot causes it crash and slowly melts the eyes while the next meets a shot from his pistol though the silence makes each shot sound more pleasant but the machine feels the wrath of the weapon. He then uses his blade to cut the tentacles off each one that attacks but this doesn't stop them as they slowly begin to overwhelm him.

Rhea uses her pistol and INC its turrets to fire at some of the central drones to give the quarian some space but it gives him little aid before the drones begin to lift Difan in the air with intention of using their free tentacles to dispose of him. Rhea does her best shoot them but despite how powerful the bullets are the drones are certain to throw Difan off the cliff which was much larger than the last. The drones lift him up high and by the orders of Krinal it seems they toy with him first by dangling him as he waves his pistol-blade but knows cutting the tentacle will lead to his death.

Suddenly the drones start exploding by some strange method as they drop Difan and quarian grabs the ledge and water falls on him while they detect their enemy. Rhea is just as confused as she sees the damage but she is not the cause as the drones continue to be hit and one by one they explode. This gives her the chance to land and aide her companion while the last drone moves by dragging itself until the final shot happens and explodes in front of them.

Rhea's aides in wiping his visor, "Where did they come from, they shouldn't have known we're here?" she looks around and sees no one, "There's somebody following us, and they're well-armed. Those were heavy shells, used in shoguns."

"Whatever it is following us, we need to move. Ecroy is not far from here and maybe he can explain."

"You don't think its Ecroy?" Rhea asks wandering.

"No, Ecroy would have come out and met us here otherwise." He says before looking to INC. "How much further?"

INC opens a screen with the map and shows they are with a mile of their meeting point, "Caution: Emissary Krinal is now alerted to our presence. Expect a change of objectives."

"Is Ecroy's life-sign signature at the rendezvous?" Difan asks cautiously of what just happened.

"Affirmative." INC states before leading them again into the forest to find a safer path.

Brutagus, Yentha and Garahie are half way up the mountain and lying on the ground while the turian looks through his binoculars and Garahie is on guard duty. Brutagus looks at the base's defences and notices a huge number of pirates surrounding the place. What catches him off-guard is that additional frigates were beginning to land and exiting them were a mixture of turian pirates and krogan escort. He totals the amount to seven frigates and around nine-hundred in bodies.

"There's more here than expected. They know we're here." Brutagus whispers to Yentha lying next to him, "I have a feeling more are coming." He looks again and leans in further, "Wait."

"What is it?" Yentha asks before looking through her binoculars to see that the pirates were not alone. Krinal's drones were hovering out of the nearest frigate in single-file until a sight they didn't expect follows them. It was Krinal itself though they didn't know that as the machine walks down the ramp, "What do you think that is?"

Brutagus looks at the machine with interest, "I'll take a picture and send to INC. Rhea might know." he says pressing a button and immediately sending the image to his allies in the east. "Oh, Shit."

"I see it." Yentha says as Krinal walking towards the lake and when nearing it watches as single Geth trooper walk out. "What are they doing in the water?" She looks at Garahie, "Hey, did you see something in the water earlier?"

Garahie looks at the asari and remembers, "I heard a movement but you just told me to carry on."

Yentha sigh before looking again, "The thing is a machine otherwise it wouldn't be talking with it."

Brutagus sees it too, "This system is near the Veil, Geth presence is to be expected but not interactions with them. They could be allying with them."

"Don't bet on it. They're walking over to somewhere." Yentha states while still watching them.

Krinal itself is escorted by the Geth as they walk across the lakeside and soon after a group of pirates join them as the machine turns to them and they nod as they wait for the Geth to do a certain action. They wait as more Geth seem to emerge from the lake with their weapons ready and the pirates pull out theirs. Krinal turns to the group of many races before quilling them as they lower their weapons and wait for the Geth to give them what they want.

A Geth pod is pushed out by some Geth troopers as they leave it ashore and allow the pirates to open it and they have smiles on their faces but make way for Krinal itself as it looks into the pod. Inside was Tido and from the looks of him he was battered, bruised and barely conscious. It orders two of them to get him out and put him on his knees so Krinal is standing above him.

"Tido, Tido. You're looking well." Krinal says bringing drell's chin up, "You recognise some of these, no? They've been looking forward to meeting you. I hear the bounty for you is very high in Terminus System and even more in Citadel Space?" The Geth begin something else unplanned as they bring an addition pod.

A batarian pirate steps forward and speaks, "Sir, we want revenge. Tido has scorned each of us."

A turian steps in front of him, "And you think he should be given to you?" and pushes him back to his group.

A fight breaks out between the turians and batarians to the Emissary's annoyance and the Geth's displeasure. Krinal ends it after a minute by extending two tentacles from its right-arm and grabs both the two priates it started with. As they try to breathe the group watch as the Emissary uses its fingers to break their necks and toss them into the lake.

"Now, calm down. Take both Tido and the other and leave them unspoiled." It says before the Geth again says something in their coded-language, "I see."

Back on the mountain face the two Spectres watch as the unexpectedly the Geth have revealed their location. Two frigates line their mounted turrets to certain angle before firing underneath the group. When the shot makes contact the ground beneath them begins to shake and finally the second shot is the killing blow for the rock as the ground collapses and the group react. Both Brutagus and Garahie fall down while Yentha use her biotics to keep her afloat long enough to grab something and holds on while she watches the two falling into a small pile though an addition turret shot blocks any sight of them after that.

She picks herself up and onto a ledge and keeps to the wall and moves across before lying down and waiting for the dust clear. When it does she sees that drones have already moved into the area but haven't noticed her and seem to be focusing on them.

INC, Rhea and Difan have reached the rendezvous but the space they've reached is not what they expected. Lying on the ground were quarian bodies that had been dead for a few days at least as Difan runs to them and sees that among them is Yero as the body was half burned from an explosion similar to the rest. Among the bodies was the target as lying in a corner near a tree is the mercenary armour Ecroy's wore as a disguise and it was also scarred. Rhea breathes heavily as she runs up to it and pulls it to see the wearer is no one and the shell of the armour is empty.

She then sees something attached inside which only can be noticed by the three eyes glowing in the back. She knows what it is as she runs towards Difan and tackles him down with the armour exploding and the dust engulfs them. A few seconds later they stand in fog of the small plain and wander what just happened.

"Yero's dead and Ecroy wasn't inside his armour."

"Tido has a lot of explaining to do." Difan says before hearing something in the distance. He points his gun towards the west and waits for something to appear and Rhea joins him in suspicion. They wait a few seconds before they see only INC appearing towards them and they sigh in relief. "I thought I heard something."

The quarian then halts as pointing at his left-face is a barrel only this was that of a sniper-rifle of strange design. Difan attempts to pull his blade and impale it but feels a hand directed downwards as stumbles before being kneed in the stomach and falling over it. Rhea prepares to fire but the shadow leans to the right and grabs the end of her personal-piece to pull the extended barrel off the end before sweeping her legs with a quick foot.

When the dust clears they see who they stand before and it is a quarian but not one of Yero's snipers though he carries that weapon. His suit is not of natural quarian design as it comprised of a mask which had the mouth-piece but where the glass-visor would be in place was one made of the hardest metal. The face has two eyes-holes but in a skull-fashion with green glass covering them. There was no nose featured but instead of a hood there was a feather-design slicked back.

His body attire is made of old quarian clothing with plates of a rusted colour though his left shoulder is more armoured along with his knees. Over this his body is covered in rags, a flap from his waist to his knees and a cape covering his right-arm which had the same feathers covering it. His weapons were a sniper-rifle but modified so the barrel could be changed for different situations and a pistol. He also carries a device similar to Difan but the sheath was longer and curved while on a strap across his chest had small three-inch tubes.

Rhea looks up at this quarian and the rifle he holds as his appearance is more apparent when the dust clears. Difan stand and picks up his blade and paces towards the unknown quarian who turns right and spins out of the way as Difan stands in front of lying Rhea. The figure looks at the blade and a sound can be heard from his helmet before placing his rifle back upon his back.

He pulls out his blade which is considerably longer than Difan's and points to the quarian but as the blade reaches for Difan's shorter weapon he touches it before putting it back into its sheath. Rhea gets herself up as well and picks up her gun piece and reattaches it.

"He's not one Yero's guys?"

"No, his clothing is too old. And that mask is strange but someone will know who he is." He says before addressing him, "I am Difan'Malal vas Malal, state your name." he says and in return he given an answer though both of them don't understand his manner of speaking as it was language but not a language well-known.

Rhea pulls a face at Difan, "My translator is playing up. I couldn't get word of that."

"You wouldn't. He is speaking a quarian language which died not after Flotilla set flight. He speaks the tongue of the Wisps." Difan informs looking at him, "I can understand it from books Malal bought on his voyage before the Geth, but I never knew why he had them."

"Can you translate what he says?" she asks hoping to find a use for him, "Can you INC?"

"Answer: Krieg only uploaded current quarian dialects within my programming. I can open a new file and register this one and record his voice." INC informs.

"Do that? Difan, ask him if he understand us?"

Difan thinks to himself while speaking the language and its broken but the quarian is listening as it takes his sniper-rifle and rests his arms of on it. He gets a response though Difan tells him to talk slower so he can make it out, "He says, over, over, traveling…he has…learnt…learned…to understand…many batarian languages, that's all…but doesn't speak them."

"Doesn't speak them? How does he communicate?" Rhea wanders looking at the quarian.

Difan thinks again before asking and gets an answer, "He uses Trade-Tongue. Otherwise he doesn't talk."

"Why Trade-Tongue?" Rhea inquires.

"Because he's a gun for hire." Difan says without asking before getting more out of the quarian, "He says, Trade-Tongue is the language of business…but because I'm a quarian I speak Wisp-Talk." He looks at Rhea, "He must think because of whom I am, I'd understand him."

"Ask him where did he come from?"

Difan asks though not very well and gets an answer they can both understand, "Rannoch."

"Smartass. No, ask him how he got here?"

Difan obeys and tries his best before getting a slow but revealing answer, "He came with a group of batarians. They…told him…to scout…the land…for possible threats." Before Rhea can aim her pistol he holds his hand up and continues, "Err…he says something about…a krogan."

"Ecroy, where is he?" she asks hesitantly.

"Geth, Geth." The answer is plain and clear from the quarian.

Difan asks an immediate question quickly and answers, "Geth…are in the lake…they killed the quarians and took the krogan…for…an exchange."

"Exchange to whom?"

"The Emissary." He translates and they both let him continue, "The Geth would only trade…with the Emissary personally." Rhea is about speak but Difan stops her has he continues, "He knew we were coming."

"Fuck!" Rhea shouts at the top of her voice, "We've have to find them?"

The scruffy quarian carries on and Difan continues, "No, finding him will get us killed." he says before the quarian takes out a datapad and throws it to them and speaks, "He had a look at Ecroy's map. It's out-dated. There are…seven frigates now. More are on the way…He's made a camp not far from here… Wait until mourning to move."

"Mourning, we'll be exposed. Can we trust him?"

"There's one way to be sure." Difan says before speak Trade-Tongue to him asking for a price and getting an answer, "He wants two-hundred thousand credits."

"How much?" Rhea says looking at the quarian before nodding regretfully, "Fine, but what his name?"

Difan asks and he gets an answer, "Call him All-Feather, he seems to like it." He says as he leads the group of three plus INC head south deeper inside the forests.

On the lakeside the Geth are escorting two pods which they have placed Brutagus and Garahie inside of as they open them to reveal the contents. The pirates get a look in as well and some recognise the Spectre while otherwise dismisses the salarian. After Krinal killed the two members the others won't question the Emissary's actions from now on as it converses with the Geth. In the sky Sintarrio is flying down towards the lake and makes known as he lands into his turian-form in front of group of turians.

The dust clears and pirates look at him with fear as his eyes glow before walking out towards the lakeside near Krinal's location, "You called, Emissary."

"Ah, Sintarrio. Excellent you've come. We have visitors." It says referring to the pods which are closed again, "T'Anya's riff-raff, a former C-Sec officer, one Spectre, a krogan with working testicles and Tido, need I say more?"

"You wish for them to be transported?" Sintarrio inquires.

"No, no. I intend to exchange them. T'Ayna will surrender herself when she reaches the base and we'll give them back, three of them anyway. One of them is of particular interest to me, I can exploit their knowledge."

"Which one?" Sinatrrio asks with intrigue.

Krinal ignores question's answer, "I'll let you guess. If Rhea finds some way to escape, no matter. One of them will turn on her, and Juna will help you."

"I see. Emissary, where will you be?"

"I will be aboard the Zenith and organize the rest of fleet. I can't have my two General's away and the Fleet unprepared." It states to his surprise.

"You've found him then?"

"Yes, Krieg broke into the Tuchanka facility thirteen days ago. Didn't think he would go back there but then again, he did go to Shanxi." Krinal says before walking towards the pirates and revealing information wanted by Rhea.

Rhea and Difan sit around a fire with All-Feather on the other side and INC is resting on log next to him. The scruffy quarian has his rifle on his lap and is wiping it with a cloth while Rhea has her helmet off and is smoking a cigarette. Difan has most of his equipment off like Rhea and the two remain silent in this stranger's company. Their calmness is halted when the quarian he quickly picks up his sniper rifle and hears rustling behind them.

"Rhea? Difan?" says familiar voice as Yentha reveals herself.

Rhea stands, "Yentha, what are you doing here? Where's the rest of Cryo Team?"

"They saw us. Their frigates shot towards the mountain and Brutagus fell, so did Garahie." she says before being allowed to sit down next to INC, "Who is this guy?"

"He found us a few hours ago. He doesn't speak any language but I can understand him well enough." Difan says while All-Feather talks and they listen, "He says you asari are considered beautiful, no?" he gets a nod from Yentha before continuing, "He says his people where hoods all their life so we have to look at the inside of a person more."

"Really? So do all quarians."

All-Feather hears the translation. "All-Feather means when his quarians were on Rannoch, they still wore attire like this. He claims the quarian suits of Flotilla are based on his people as they wore them before them." Difan listens as he translates, "He says he doesn't usually talk this much. Life with pirates is a dull life. Wait… he means by that pirates hire him to kill but most pirates won't hire him unless it's other pirates they want killing."

"Why does he say that?" Rhea asks.

Difan waits for an answer, "I don't kill innocents. When he came to the fleet he was hired by someone. Grey-Groom?"

Rhea listens to him and thinks to herself, "Who's he?"

Difan translates though doesn't understand the description, "Grey-Groom is husband of Blue-Bride, and they were a great pair of thieves a few years back and robbed many. But I took this mission for I meet Grey-Groom and swore to protect him."

Rhea walks over to him hold his hand, "What does he look like?"

"Grey-Groom is tall, black eyes, not alien recognised by me, had growths on his face." Difan says as ball of them watch Rhea draw a head in the dirt and lines where Krieg's scaled-patterns were around his eyebrows and cheek-bones which trail to his earholes. The final lines are on his jawline. "No, no. he did have them but also…" All-Feather adds additional details to face.

Rhea watches him as he begins to darken the rest cheek also adding strange marking to the parts of forehead above and makes two strange horn-like structures while making his hair bigger, "That's not Krieg?"

"Grey-Groom looks like that and the Emissary wants him." Difan says on his behalf. He asks him something else and he gets the answer, "He says that the top priority of the pirates is to find Grey-Groom for the Emissary, a big bounty is on his head. He doesn't know why."

"Ask him how he met him? And when?" she says before letting him translate.

Difan waits, "He says that he met Grey-Groom earlier this year after visiting a human colony called Shanxi. He said he had unfinished business there before-"

"Wait! Unfinished business? He's never been to Shanxi?" Rhea informs

"Who hasn't?" Difan asks and doesn't know if it is Grey-Groom or Krieg but continuing to translate, "Oh…err…Grey-Groom left Shanxi and for the Terminus but before that he…hired me with a task." Difan waits for him to reveal all, "He said he was to find Blue-Bride, which he believe is you."

"Blue-Bride?" Yentha remarks thinking it's a joke.

"In the Terminus, Grey-Groom and Blue-Bride are the nicknames for you two as he has seen the way you've worked, it was like you were thinking what the other was and protecting each other like husband and wife." Difan says in surprised fashion.

"But why are you with the pirates?" Rhea asks while putting out her cigarette.

"To avoid suspicion he joined out of ignorance and has been traveling with them for a while now along with some others he hired. The Emissary couldn't seem to find Grey-Groom so their now turning to you, and that's why they have your allies and is here personally." All-Feather says with Difan's help.

Rhea looks at Yentha and Difan, "If this creep doesn't know where Krieg is, at least we have Krinal. If we kill him now, Krieg won't have to hide."

"And the asari?" Yentha wonders knowing that despite Krinal's horde there were still other enemies.

"Fighting one enemy is better than two. We'll sleep to mourning." She says before turning away and closing her eyes.

In the opening hours of the mourning outside the base are many pirates conversing with each other as they are simply waiting for the enemy to come. The Base itself is closed off from the groups though there is nothing of value as it has already been sacked. Sitting around a fire cooking meat off a skewer was a group of pirates who own the batarian frigate behind them. The group were all batarians and wore different armours but one of them is wear blue Assassin medium armour and takes the meat off before cutting off a portion for himself.

The batarian sitting next him wears Scorpion light-armour and leans towards his ear, "Captain, how long we got to be here? The whole year we could have made profit on slaves." He says missing grammar due to his accent.

The Captain turns and speaks similarly, "Yeah, we could. But the money the Emissary paying us should keep fine for a while. Besides, you saw what it could do. We wouldn't want it repeating with our crew."

"But why we go in the place? I tell ya, if we're here another day, I'm going look in."

The Captain grabs the slaver and puts his head near the fire, "You won't! I won't have myself, my crew massacred for curiosity."

"Okay, okay Jatev. You've made point!" he says before being let go and gets himself up in shame.

Jatev points to him, "You're young, but you learning. Discipline important, okay? That why those bastards got killed." He says before looking at the base, "That base is trouble. I know that from the last time round." He reveals as he was there during the first attack.

At the edge of the forests Yentha is looking through her binoculars and sees this group before passing them to Rhea who looks to see that she was right about there being more of them. Difan and All-Feather are talking with the scruffy quarian is pointing to certain areas. The two then reunite with the pair and Difan takes a look through the binoculars.

"Yep, just as All-Feather says. There are encampments like this all over the outside of the base and he hasn't found any additional entrances apart from the ones with got. He said there was one in the lake but the Geth are in there. The place is impregnable apart from one entrance not far from here." Difan reveals to Rhea's annoyance.

"That entrance may be our only shot." Rhea says taking back the binoculars.

"But the pirates know that place as well." Difan the listens to All-Feather again, "He says that there may be a possible way to get in camp without suspicion."

"Then spill it and we can save everyone and find out what we can." Rhea says before looking at All-Feather aiming his sniper-rifle towards the forest and sound can be heard. "What was that for?"

Difan translates for him, "He says he has a deal with the batarians. He kills local animals and then sells them to them for credits. However if he came to camp with an asari captured, it will catch all their attention."

"What do you mean by that?" Yentha asks with caution.

Difan listen and laughs a little at the idea, "He says a lot of pirates are starving and board. There also seems to be a lack of female-company." He says before Rhea and Yentha look at themselves.

Half-an-hour later at Jatev's camp and the group continue to eat their meals that were brought back by All-Feather which the captain was finished with as he throws the bone on the ground. While he sits with his people a sniper on top of the frigate is looking through his scope and sees something to catch his eye as he looks closely. He then stands up and looks for Jatev on the ground.

"Captain! The quarian is back!"

"Does he have more food?"

"Better than that! Has a half-naked asari on leash!"

Those words get everyone standing as Jatev nods to fellow pirate to give his rifle and look through the scope and sees All-Feather with a pile of carcasses from animals known as 'Space Cows' and dragging them. In his other hand he holds his rifle and is aiming it towards Rhea in front of where he is walking. She has only her underwear and bra on and was holding a face of fear.

Jatev smiles before looking at a troop, "Go help out!" he orders and group of seven batarians help the quarian up the hill with carcases and see that asari is separated from the quarian. When All-Feather approaches Jatev smiles, "Well All-Feather you've outdone yourself. Bringing you here was a use after all." He says before looking at Rhea.

A batarains leans towards his ear, "Jatev, she might be spy."

Jatev laughs while approaching them, "Why would asari half-naked be spy?" he says before approaching them, "And who you be?"

Rhea speaks, "My name is Namia. Please, this is just a mistake."

Jatev turn to All-Feather, "What she doing when found her?" he says and getting an answer by the quarian as the suit-alien makes a circle with his finger and thumb and puts a finger in-between and repeats and motion. This makes Jatev smile, "So were fucking someone? Keeps getting better. Prove it."

This alerts Rhea as she shows her neck to see bite-marks as Jatev inspects them. The batarians start calling out some gestures as they continue and cheer when Rhea's bra is removed slightly as Jatev pulls down one of Rhea bra straps. Before they can enjoy more a group of turians and krogan have heard the calling and break through crowd to see.

A red turian with half his burned off looks at the two, "Well, seems my boys are going to have some fun with you." He says capturing their attention and Rhea pulls her bra strap back up and is embarrassed a little. "You didn't tell me you brought some company, Jatev. How much do you want for her?"

"Not sale, Tenias!" he says before All-Feather says something in Trade-Tongue catches his attention, "What! Paid you to find food!" he says before hearing from the quarian again.

"See Jatev, you told the quarian you'd pay him for what he finds. The asari is his property for now." Tenias says smiling. All-Feather says something in addition that surprises many of them which causes Tenias to continue, "An auction for a sex-slave, that seems fair!" He listens further, "An auction for the asari! The quarian gets paid by the ship who bids the highest. We'll have it later today." He says before laughing and turning to his colleague, "For a feathered-fuck he sure knows how to get pocket."

Jatev turns to All-Feather and smiles with distain, "Fine, asari goes auction. We'll take carcasses." He says and All-Feather drags one of the Space Cows to him. He also says something else. "I see. Okay. Lads, put her in ship along with rest of carcasses." Rhea is then escorted by All-Feather with his rifle in hand over to Jatev's men and they are escorted by them as she is pushed up the ramp and into the vessel.

While all this is going on another ship arrives though this was no-bigger than a shuttle as it lands in the centre of the frigates on the south-side. Lucky for the asari that walking down the ramp is Juna in disguise and from her new look she gets the turians attention. She was a light-beige skin-tone and wore a dress and hood that was pleasing to their eyes because to each turian there she was the most beautiful women in universe.

Tenias sees her and smiles while approaching and admiring her, "Well. I see Krinal's wise to bring us turians some company. My name is Tenias."

"And my name is Juna, General of Krinal's army. If you're thinking what I think, then I'll slice you balls off." she says before she and her drone escort heads for the main gate of the base. She refers to a drone, "Inform Sintarrio I've arrived and will meet him immediately."

Another turian approaches Tenias, "That waist." He says before his Captain gives him a look and they both return to the encampment.

Yentha see Juna's arrival through her binoculars and passes them to Difan and he observes it as well. He then hands them back to her as she takes out her rifle with intent on traveling with it on-hand as the two with INC head northwards.

"I can't believe you gave her a few bites." Difan says laughing.

"It's not like you couldn't do it." Yentha says before she states something else, "Oh, yeah. You're married."

Difan nods, "That's wright. I wouldn't want to upset her. Doing something adulterous with a good friend would break her heart."

"And what if wasn't a good friend?" Yentha asks as Difan sees her biting her lip and being suggestive.

"Let's keep moving." He says taken back from her flirtation and continues north.

Rhea is inside a dark room aboard Jatev's frigate though she is currently being tied up to a chair by a pair of batarians as they can do nothing but smile in having the pleasure of being nearer female company. The chair is simple and is built against the wall as they tied her hands together with a small but hardy wire and attach it to her feet as well so if she stood she would fall over. She watches as one of batarians smile at her before pulling her bra a little to see what is underneath. She then shakes him off only to receive a slap in the face in return.

"Watch yourself, bitch. Later, you'll fucked by Captain and afterwards you at our pleasure." He says.

"Oh yeah, what about the others? Surely they'll pay more for me?" Rhea says.

The batarian laughs, "Jatev has lot a cash plus what we add. You'll be our pet next few days." He says before slapping her again and leaving.

Inside of the base Sintarro stands in what would have been the town hall of the settlement but because of Aite's nature it was of a Hall of Leadership though above the highest chair is carving of a reaper. The turian sits on where the supposed Scythe leader of this base would sit. He is board of what's going on as many drones wander around with nothing to do. Inside of the hall were the four pods containing Tido, Ecroy, Garahie and Brutagus as group's pods were each lined up on four rows of seats.

"How long have you been here?" he says as watches Juna walk up the side flight of steps and approaching him, "I didn't think you'd come until sundown?"

Juna smiles as Sintarrio leaves a leg free for her to sit on as she puts herself down and holds him, "I couldn't wait."

He smiles, "And what orders from the Zenith? Wait?"

"Unfortunately. Krinal is going to have all the fun finding Krieg while we sit here and wait for the Blue-Bride." She laughs at the title, "I remember when Rhea couldn't control her mind, let alone a weapon."

"Was she that helpless? Apparently she bested Captain Chavai on Pinnacle Station. The Captain still wants revenge." Sintarrio reveals.

"Well she didn't get it. Rhea took down her agent on the Citadel and now we're here." She answers before resting her head on to his, "I've missed you."

"I know. I'm sorry that this has happened." He says looking away from her.

"What?" Juna asks lifting his chin up.

The male turian continues to look away, "If I hadn't flow into the Veil, I wouldn't have been here. I would've been finished, given up my service to be with you."

"Don't say that. You loved flying more than anything."

"Dammit Juna!" he shouts causes her to stand in surprise, "I loved flying but I'm now a living ship! A ship who has no choice but to do a machine's bidding in exchange for you!" he says as she feels her face and looks with shock, "That's wright, you're here because when I awoke it had been two years and you had just been killed on orders of Krinal."

"You did this for me?" she looks at her hand before walking to him and kneeling, "I don't care, I love you too much to care." she says as she lets him hug her though they are both upset.

Later in the day and Difan and Yentha have reached their destination back in the forest as the asari looks through her binoculars to see a small campsite with a few turians guarding it while built into the nearest cliff under a small waterfall is a door which would lead them into the base without detection. The only problem is the campsite itself as the turians are heavily armed and know their duty but not enough to notice Yentha and Difan on top of the cliff with INC arriving behind them.

"All-Feather said we have to wait for a signal from him." Difan informs.

Yentha observes the camp to find around twenty turians, "Do you know what it is?"

"He said we'd both know." Difan reveals while turning to INC, "How's Rhea doing?"

"Answer: Rhea is to be auctioned off by All-Feather as a distraction."

"Shit, now I'm glad I didn't volunteer." Yentha says looking down still while wondering what will happen with Rhea.

At the base's outer encampment a group of hundreds of pirates have gathered for the chance to win a prize as Jatev's men begin escorting Rhea out of the shuttle and meet All-Feather with his rifle as his signals them to move and he will take control of the situation. As the quarian escorts her she is disgusted at the various alien looking at her and what they would do with an asari as she is led up some steps and onto a podium where she is untied and stands in front of them. There are many captains among the groups as they observe her and smile at her natural beauty.

Jatev steps on the podium as well with All-Feather and speaks to them, "Okay! Shut up! This auction for the asari that All-Feather found! The rules simple, place bid and another has chance to outbid him for her! All-Feather only accepts bid payable on site, right now! If you no pay him, he kills you and bidding will open again! Understand?" and gets a cheer from everyone. All-Feather stands firm with his rifle and leans on it ready to listen when he bangs the floor with it the bidding starts and people start making noise.

"I put 2000 credits!" shouts Jatev starting it.

"4000." A krogan captain says talking to his cohort, "She' ours."

"7000!" shouts Tenias as turians cheer for him.

Jatev looks at his rival, "10000!" getting a cheer from his crew.

A salaian observes her and shouts, "We'll take her for 15000!"

Tenias bids, "20000! You better have the cash, Jatev!"

"30000!" he shouts before everyone looks at him and he smiles as All-Feather about to slam his rifle the first time.

"Positively exited, I'll pay 50000." An elcor says to everyones confusion looking back to him, "Revealing, that money you've paid will be put to good use after all."

Jatev turns, "70000!" he hears Tenias shout ten more, "90000! Won't be outbid by bareface." He whispers to his crew and they agree.

"100000!" Tenias shouts to everyone's surprise.

Jatev look at him with anger, "Can't outbid me, Tenias! 200000!" a batarian tries to whisper, "Shut up! No 250000!"

"I'll double that!" he says smiling and the turians cheering behind him. "And, the quarian gets free supply from my food stores!" his bid gets All-Feather's attention as the quarian looks at Jatev who can't really bid anymore and he slams his rifle three times. The turians cheer as Tenias climbs to the podium and celebrates while Jatev pulls a pistol on him to everyone's surprise, "Jatev, I didn't think you were such a sore loser!" He says getting the other pirates to laugh with him.

"That bid won't fair! Auction still stands!"

"You said anything that can be paid to the quarian right now. All-Feather can only eat turian food. It has value to him, am I wright?" he shouts to other crew.

The salarian steps forward, "Jatev, he's right."

"Disappointing rebut, I agree, the quarian is fair." The elcor says as crowd see Jatev putting away his pistol and walk through the crowd in anger.

Tenias smiles and turns around to face Rhea, "500000 credits. You better deliver." he says while he lets her crew take her away and pays All-Feather by waving his omni-tool.

Rhea is dragged by two turians and head to the furthest frigate from her sight as they show her like a prize to the others displeasure before dragging her up the ramp and she closes her eyes in annoyance as she knows this is needed in order to get into the base.

She feels that she is being taken upstairs and when reaching a central door on the highest deck she is thrown inside. Opening her eyes she sees that she is in the Captain'Cabin. The place was well-kept and there were many trophies of Tenias' accomplishments but his pride and joy cough was to her left as looks to see someone in a hot tub. It was female turian who like Juna in disguise was beautiful to their standards as she holds a pistol and smiles.

"Who are you?" Rhea wonders cautiously.

"I'm Tenias' wife and I believe he's brought me a present? Take off your clothes." she says and watches her undress, "Wow. You really are something, aren't you? Come and join me, my husband will be up soon."

"What are you going to do to me?" she asks nervously.

"My husband will most likely watch us first and then I'll watch him before you watch us." She says before Rhea steps in the tub and the turian leans her back so she is lying on her chest and rests her head on Rhea' shoulder, "Don't worry, you might enjoy it."


	35. A Finely Woven Plan: Part II

**Chapter XXXV: A Finely Woven Plan: Part II**

**19/07/2160- Aite, Typhon System, Phoenix Massing**

The auction for Rhea has just finished and All-Feather has half a million credits as well as free supply of food from the turians though the quarian is more focused upon his mission as he is an ally to Rhea and her cause. The quarian has now lost favour with the batarian who hired him as he lost the auction to his turian rival. These same batarians are now in a bad mood and Captain Jatev is the angriest as he sits his chair on the bridge bored with not having any company for the day.

One of his crew approaches him, "Captain, what we going to do about quarian?"

Jatev turns his chair, "What about him?"

"He still one who collects our foods and he don't need our credits anymore. We should kill him." He puts forward.

Jatev shakes his head, "No, killing quarian upsets turian now, and then upset those Generals in base. They'll kill us all. Face it; we'll have to wait until Emissary is done with us."

"Maybe, sir. But doesn't mean we can't upset them?" The pirate replies.

Jatev looks up and smiles, "Oh, what you have in mind?"

"He'll keep thinking we'll pay him, and then kill in the woods. Made fools of us."

"He has. Continue, Hidok." Jatev says before looking out of his ship.

Rhea sits back into the female turian's chest uncombaseably though she knows that this is only a temporary situation for her. She waits while she can hear a sound coming from outside of the room and laughing as opening the door and walking into the cabin was the Captain of this pirate ship, Tenias. The turian is happy since he has won the auction for Rhea though she's going under a different name at this time.

He smiles when he sees his wife hold her, "I see you're acquainted? Good."

His wife smiles, "How much did she cost?"

"Half a million and the quarian gets free pick of our store during our stay." He reveals.

She smiles surprised and whispers to Rhea, "Is that how much you're worth? I guess we'll see if you're worth it. Do you want to fuck me first or my husband?"

Rhea doesn't look at her but is stuck looking at the male turian undressing and getting into the water as well sitting beside her, "Why don't you show me how it's done."

"A fellow observer? Nice. But I want a piece of you now." He says as he reaches for her breast though Rhea is quick to grab the wrist. "Don't touch me!"

Tenias smiles, "You're feisty, good. I never caught your name back at the auction. What is it?"

Rhea smiles, "My real name serves no purpose here but the one you've gave means more. My name is Blue-Bride." She says before Tenias smiles turns to fear as she uses the back of her head to head-butt his wife and then kick Tenias in the face.

With his wife knocked out she doesn't have the pleasure of seeing Rhea jumping out of the tub and hitting his head on the side. He tries get out but she does the same thing again before forcing his head into the water and watching him attempt to escape. Rhea thinks quickly as she isn't as physically strong as him as she reaches for the pistol Tenias had on him. It was next to his cloths and takes it before pulling the trigger with the bullet going through the side of his neck. He holds his neck for few seconds and coughs out blue before leaning back next to his unconscious wife and dies next to her.

Rhea takes a deep breath before looking around for her underwear, "I hope All-Feather does his part?"

All-Feather himself is not out in the woods again but is currently about to climb onto of Jatev's ship and watching to see if anyone is watching him. He starts with pulling out a grapple-hook and swings it to the top and climbs up with little efbase. When on top he slowly crouches and keeps out of sight from the watchmen above as he knows a gunshot would be too loud. Instead he pulls off his chest-strap one of the tubes and presses a button with small three-inch holographic blade appearing on the end. All-Feather is quick to aim and throw it into the back of batarian's head and the pirate falls immediately.

He then runs to body quickly and holds it from falling off and places it so it can't slip off. When that is done he immediately turns to the turret on top of the frigate. The shape of the turret is a dome yet has small embossed area which can open if the frigate lands. All-Feather takes another one of his knives and pierces this area and with little efbase cuts through while gaining access the manual controls. He jumps aboard and looks at the targeting screen and moves the target towards the lake with an intention in mind. He then types in a command to continuously fire into that location.

Jatev sits up, "What the fuck? That our turret. Pilot!"

The batarian furthest front turns, "Yes, Captain?"

"Where is turret firing?" Jatev orders to know.

The pilot types into his console before looking at it in shock and realises, "Sir, it firing at lake."

And response to fire is swift as walking out the water is a Geth Prime looking and analysing the enemy as it lets out a small screech and not far behind it the head of biggest Geth appear. The Colossi are the first to attack as two of them fire upon Jatev's ship and only damage it briefly but it alerts all of the pirates as they initially arm themselves but didn't realise how big the Geth force in lake was. The small army consist of two Colossi, four armatures, two-hundred troopers, one hundred shock-troopers, twelve juggernauts, and three primes.

Rhea smiles when she hears this sound as she then takes opportunity to leave Tenias ship with only a pistol on hand. Exiting the cabin she meets two guards and fires before they can bear arms before running down the stairs. She leans against the wall and waits for someone to come her way and is successful in tripping them onto their front and shooting them in the back of head before going down to the middle floor where she can escape.

In the woods to the east, Difan and Yentha listen and the asari smiles as when Difan said All-Feather would give a signal he meant a big one. INC is first to attack as it lowers itself down the cliff and fires at will to kill two turians while Yentha jumps down and uses her biotics to land safely while pulling out her pistol and joins the skirmish. Difan pulls out his sniper-rifle and gives cover fire for the machine and asari.

The attack is successful as many turian fall mainly to INC as the machine carries itself around the battlefield and shoots each pirate it can before turning back. Yentha is in hand-to-hand with the final turian but finishes him quickly as he attempts a right-straight but Yentha holds the arm and shoots him in the stomach and when he fall she shoots him again in the head.

Not long after INC lowers Difan down and he meets up with her at the small entrance, "A Geth attack, the pirates will either shit themselves or die." Difan observes the circular door under the waterfall, "Where do you think it leads?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" says a voice as they both turn around and coming out from the trees is another enemy and was led by Chavai.

All of the troops were asari and dressed in black armour from head to toe but merely the basic of the Scythe's army, the infantry. This armour consisted of medium grade and each carried an assault rifle and pistol while the helmet's looked more akin to a death mask. Chavai however didn't wear a helmet and showed her scarred face.

"I take it these aren't anyone you know?" he asks Yentha who shrugs.

"We observed you little trick with T'Anya and it has worked. Lieutenant, escort these too back to the camp and await further orders." A nod from an armed soldier with blue strip on her left arm signals the asari to disarm the pair and lead them away. INC however manage to escape due to its stealth cloak and remains above watching the whole incident.

On the battlefield between the pirates and the Geth, the synthetics have the upper hand as many pirates fall to them. All-Feather is still on top of Jatev's ship using his sniper-rifle to watch Tenias' ship and see if Rhea is still in there. However someone was watching him as Jatev's second, Hidok is holding an assault rifle and aiming it towards the quarian. Before he can pull the trigger he sees geth troopers approaching and would rather have his life and fires towards them.

During this commotion Rhea manages to run down the ramp of Tenias' ship but the area is already pressed by the Geth as she shoots one in the eye but as another comes. Behind this geth a bullet comes and blows it apart. She turns to see the falling corpse and then to where the shot came from as All-Feather points to the direction she needs to go. Taking a risk she runs through the crossfire with the quarian spotting her over the retreating pirates and the advancing Geth. She trips once but this is to her luck as she dodges a bullet aiming for her but hits a salarian instead.

Managing to get behind Jatev's frigate she sees the batarian food stock and notices that there are seven carcasses. She quickly feels them to find anything unusual and is wright to do so as she pulls a space cow out and begins opening it to find her equipment for this mission. All-Feather had it hidden in the carcass and sold it to batarians with the intent of recovering it during the distraction. She starts with putting on her suit which due to the material was quick to put on as the plates were attached to it.

"Well, well, well. It seem you mine after all." Jatev says holding an assault rifle and Hidok the same. "Should have known you were whore."

"I'm not. Fuck you." She says frozen.

Jatev is about to speak when one of All-Feather's knives hits him with a killing blow to the top of the head and leaves Hidok surprised when Rhea open fires her pistol. He is shot in both legs and holds them while crying in agony but the two of them have no time in finishing him off as the quarian slides down the frigate and uses his grapple-hook to lower himself down with pace and safety. He pulls out his rifle while Rhea attaches the parts to her pistol to make one herself as they begin the final stage of their plan.

The two cover each other when they run towards the wall of the base but the Geth are too focused on the pirates attempts to escape as they are abandoning their post. Rhea shoots two geth before All-Feather tackles her out of the way of a running juggernaut. The quarian points his rifle to the giant Geth's foot and shoots it when it turns and stumbles but All-Feather shoots it again in the eye. He then helps Rhea up as they continue.

Rhea and All-Feather are nearing the wall of the base and the wall was seventy feet high. She pulls a grin of sarcasm before she looks at her new ally take two of his knives and passes them to her. To her amazement she watches the quarian begin to climb with haste. She switches the knives on and digs them into the wall and slowly climbs up the structure. Things begin to become difficult for the pair when the Geth notice them scaling the wall and a Prime orders fire upon them. The fire isn't accurate enough to hit them but slows them down.

This is the least of worries for Sintarrio's as he enters a code into the keypad and has triggered the base's defences in which a barrier begins to form around perimeter of the wall. The base's corner watchtowers begin to emit a blue pulse while in the centre of the town a small but important object begin lifting itself. The spherical-shaped object reaches a fair distance above before the pulses from the watchtowers fire towards it and from the sphere heading downward a shield is forming.

Rhea sees this and is only half-way up the wall and begins to climb with more haste while All-Feather has reached the top and sees the shield coming down. He takes his grapple-hook and throws it down to Rhea as she takes it and attached it to her suit. Thinking quickly, All-Feather then attaches it to his belt and risks both their safety when he jumps down the other side. Rhea is then pulled up by the weight of the quarian until she reaches the edge but seeing the shield coming down rapidly she has no time waste. She climbs over and misses the shield by inches and lies on top of the wall between the gate and the southwest watchtower.

She gets up quickly and looks over the edge to see All-Feather telling her to lower herself down with the wire. She does so and because there was nothing opposing her she made better time as she catches her breath after landing.

"Thanks." She whispers but All-Feather points to the suppressor on her belt suggesting she should put it on while he pulls out his blade which like Difan's was powerful enough to slice most metals. She presses the button on her helmet to open a channel to Zeki, "Zeki, any word on Difan and Yentha?"

"None, but from the signatures they are heading in another direction, somewhere to the north."

"Okay, keep me posted." She says before following All-Feather and looks for a place to hide.

Inside of the hall where Sintarrio sits and Juna stands the female turian grows impatient as they are observing the attack via a hologram presented by one of their drones. The Geth forces are causing the pirates to flee as the frigates begin lifting off. Juna looks at this with disgust while Sintarrio is emotionless as he also is observing the other drones in their duty to begin moving the pods containing Rhea's allies and heading for a new destination.

"So? Are we just going to let the Geth take this place?" Juna asks.

"For now. Besides, it's not like this was unexpected but the reason is still unclear. We'll have to find that out later."

"Did Krinal have a second plan?"

He shakes his head, "No, he had one plan and we're sticking to it. We head for the cave complex below and detonate the charges."

"And the army in the north?" Juna asks being aware of another presense.

"We wait for them to destroy the Geth. This was always a simple operation, Juna. That's why Krinal entrusted it to us rather than a team of Acolytes." He reveals as he presses a button on the armrest keypad. "We must retrieve our weapon and destroy there's. Come." A spiral staircase begin to form around the centre of the hall as Sinatrrio takes Juna's hand and escorts her down and the pods following her with the drones carrying them.

The Geth are nearing the gate and still have many troops but hardly any opposition as the Colossi make their move and line themselves up in a formation. The gate to the base was built to be sturdy but like many mechanisms in the modern age it relied on electronics as they fire shots at the door and the electricity channels through the electronics and follows with an explosion.

Rhea and All-Feather watch from above a rooftop as the Geth begin pouring into the base and immediately begin taking positions. This wasn't completely going to plan as Rhea expected Krinal's forces to fight back and not retreat as she remains above while All-Feather is looking at various places of interest that they may exploit. She however modifies her firearm into its original pistol-form while keeping the suppressor attached.

Chavai is still at the entrance to the secret passages and was waiting as the asari were currently opening the door manually with specialised equipment that included one of them holding a chainsaw device though the blade was of an increased temperature. She is getting impatient but when she is called from behind she looks and immediately turns to see who is approaching from behind her.

The blue asari was wearing a blue tunic on top of her black robes with heeled boots, and bore a symbol of a reaper on it while her head was covered by a hat worn by a matriarch. She wore armour though it was more ceremonial with light plating on her arms and legs and bore a long cape. She travels with a heavy-armoured escort but she is mounted on a quadruped vehicle that moves like and animal would.

Chavai puts her right hand to her heart and bows like everyone else down when she dismounts her transport, "Marquis Diniva, there was no message of you arrival."

"That's because I didn't send one out." She says approaching her and observing the door, "I see. Is this the entrance?"

"It is, ma'am. We have sent two prisoners to the camp." Chavai states.

"I know, an asari and quarian." She states giving off a shudder at the suited aliens name, "Dirty vermin they are, Chavai. I would be careful. He'd more likely escape."

"Then why don't we just kill ma'am?"

"It won't amount to anything. This Rhea T'Ayna is the cause of all of this and it ends with her. She'll tell us where her grey friend is and then we'll capture it and execute it as the Duchess commands. But for now we should think about getting behind this door."

"General Dahria orders are to break this-"

"I know what they are, Chavai. I would rather they'd just be done with this place that's all. This place is trouble and the Emissary is the same." She turns to Chavai, "We need these weapons if we stand a chance."

"Understand, ma'am." Chavai says as her troops are successful in breaking down the door as it falls before them. A lieutenant approaches, "Take a squad and survey the under passages and follower the map uploaded to you helmet. Report to me if there is an enemy presence, Emissary or otherwise."

Rhea leans against a wall within a small alleyway which meets a street of this settlement. The closed walls of this base have been occupied by a small Geth force compared to the armies that they have at their disposal. The synthetics were crawling the streets in pairs while in the central plaza the Colossi curl themselves up and shut down. Rhea was on her own for now as she was looking towards a staircase that would take her to the flat rooftops of the place but an obstacle is in her way.

Above her All-Feather stands on a rooftop and leans against a wall in the shadows holding his rifle and looking through the scope. He is aiming at a pair of Geth that are blocking Rhea's path and breathes slowly to concentrate. He has to hit both of them with clean shots so that Rhea can climb to the top of the rooftops and away from Geth sight. He fires the first shot and the second after and both Geth are now down allowing Rhea to run up the staircase and reach the top.

Rhea watches the quarian change position before lying on the roof and pressing her helmet, "Zeki?"

"I'm here, and we've got a problem." Zeki states while concerned.

Rhea breathes before asking, "What?"

"Difan and Yentha pressed their alert signal and tracked them. They've escort a ten miles north." She replies frantically.

"Shit, did Krinal get them?"

"No, that's the thing. Yentha' left her microphone on and it was a female voice." She informs, "She sounded like the same person that was on Intai'sei, the one that was arrested with you."

Rhea realises who she is talking about, "Chavai, she's here. The Scythe must be here as well. Zeki, keep track of them and update me when you can."

"Got it. Rhea, when you're done get him back for me." She pleads.

"I will. I'll get him back." She promises before they make their move.

All- Feather lowers himself down to the street in order to begin something that Rhea wouldn't approve to but he wasn't following Rhea's orders, he was acting on behalf of Krieg as he pulls out his blade and begins his assault on the Geth. His task was to confuse them long enough for Rhea to get to where she wants to go as he runs towards another pair and quickly slices their head off before they can react. This brings a force of twelve and a Prime away from approaching Rhea and they head through an alleyway following the quarian.

When they arrive they see nothing before All-Feather throws a knife into the leading Prime to disorientate it and begins to fire its weapon towards the sky. The quarian lands from where he hid and slices one Geth's arm before rolling onto the ground and picking himself up. All-Feather the spins himself with his blade out and catches another two across the chest and then steps on one's knee and pushing himself into the air.

From here he lands on the wall of and alleyway and jumps himself to the opposite and a little bit higher and repeats until he grabs the ledge of the roof and pulls himself up. As more Geth forces hunt him down Rhea uses the opportunity to run down the streets and head to her destination which was the plaza of the base.

The asari in the north have a force of two-thousand infantry as well as six frigates on land and lined up in an orderly fashion. All of these ships were inspired by a reaper shape but each had an insignia on top representing their regiment. Lined out in front of the frigates were tents for the asari though there were not as many due to asari naturally being happy to share space. Among the middle-left frigate, the ramp leads down to where Captain Chavai and Marquis Diniva stand ready to await their superior's permission to enter as standing at the edge of the ramp were heavily armed guards.

The Marquis looks at a nervous Chavai, "Calm down, Captain. Haven't you seen the Duchess before?"

"Not in person. This is my first time."

"Consider yourself honoured. Only Marquis', Generals and her personal Aide and Guard are ever permitted to see her in person. Your previous experience with both enemies has been brought to her attention." She reveals.

"Not bad I hope?" Chavai asks referring to a few previous missions.

Diniva sighs, "What happened on Intai'sei had to be done. We and the Emissary were allies then, now we are not."

"But the Emissary isn't the problem. Rhea T'Anya is." Chavai states being wright as well.

"She's also the problem of the Council. We have a war to win." The Marquis says with confidence

"Marquis Divina, Captain Chavai. You may enter now." A member of the personal informs while the more senior member leads them.

The Marquis leads as the two walk up the ramp and into the frigate and walk to the elevator at the end. Two guards are standing near and nod to them allowing entry and they stand while the door shuts in front of them. Chavai's heart beats faster and faster and when the doors open she breathes out heavily as they enter a dark room.

The room belonged to the commanding officer but she had relinquished it to their esteemed guest as sitting on a transported throne in front of circular table showing the battlefield was an asari. This asari matriarch had a light purple complexion and wore a dark blue silk leggings and long-sleeved shirt though her cleavage showed. This clothing was covered in silver patterns and her black high-heeled, thigh-high boots had similar patterns. Over this she wore a belt with a grey loincloth on both the front the rear attached and trails to her ankles while over her shoulders was a varren-skinned coat that trails her ankles as well. On her head she bore a hat that was tampered with three legs, covering over her ear-holes and the middle trailing down her nose.

Also in the room her general, Dahria wore black armour with a silver stripe on the left side and her face, like Chavai was scarred though not as harshly.

Chavai place her hand on her heart, "General, ma'am."

Dahria turns to the Duchess, "Archduchess, this is Captain Lera Chavai of the Serrice Regiment."

She sits forward and looks towards her, "I have heard many good things about you Chavai. If not for your resourcefulness Rhea T'Anya would have no reason to run from both us and our enemy."

"I'm here to serve, my Lady." Chavai says with the upmost respect.

The Duchess nods, "And you have, very well. You've collaborated with the enemy before on Intai'sei?"

"Yes, my Lady." She answers and remembers it well.

"Then you are aware of Sintarrio, now General Sintarrio. He is here on Aite. General, if you please." the Duchess says waving her hand in permission.

Dahria nods, "Thank you, my lady. Our scouts have tracked Rhea T'Anya and her ruse of infiltrating the base. She is currently inside and with the Gath contingent occupying the area, retaking it will be no problem."

"With all due respect I thought it was the factories underneath that were are targets?" Chavai asks.

Dahria smiles, "It is, but her Lady put a lot of funds into the Aite settlement and wishes for it to be restored topside as well as underneath. After it is taken we want to transport the remaining artillery to our main stronghold."

"Then what am I to do, ma'am?" She asks waiting for orders.

"You've sent your squad into the underground passageways but it has been months since Krinal's occupation. We fear the Emissary will be using the facilities. If push comes to shove we want your unit to destroy the factories." The Duchess states and knows this was a risk they had to take.

"Yes, my lady." Chavai obeys without question.

Dahria points on the map onto the centre and where they found Difan and Yentha, "You will lead two squads inside the caverns and recover some schematics while I, on her Lady's behalf will siege the Geth presence inside the base. From there we will corner General Sintarrio into surrender. Objections?"

Chavai nods, "I have, ma'am. Sintarrio is dangerous. He could destroy our army single-handed. It would be more wise drawn him away from the area rather than make him surrender."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" the Duchess wonders, "Sintarrio's forces have abandoned him out of fear. You'll expect no less from cowardly batarians and vile turians who have no honour."

"My Lady, may I suggest a new strategy?" Chavai thinks about the intelligence she has just found, "Rhea T'Anya is inside the structure and we have two of her allies. The allies mean nothing to us but something to her. We know she must be communicating with someone. If we locate who it is, we can take command of her mission and set new goals."

"Use her?" The General asks thinking the plan was risky.

"Yes, ma'am. Our scouts observed a shuttle passing over the mountains southeast. I believe that this was T'Anya's entry into forest. If we can find shuttle, we could cut her a deal."

"We don't deal with people like her, Captain." The Duchess states.

Chavai defends her position, "My Lady, I know. But we have two of her allies in custody and if we took control of her escape and contact she'll do the she's told."

The Duchess stands up and walks to the table where she observes the pan, "I see, saving the use of our troops. We could get her to copy the schematics and bring them to us rather than waist two-thousand troops on occupying the base for a search. What of Sintarrio?"

"We let him go for now. He'll most likely return to the Emissary aboard their fleet and by then we'll be more ready for war." Chavai puts forward.

"So, a retreat? That's you're plan?" the Duchess asks confused, "I don't want good asari dying and if Sintarrio is dangerous, you would have saved many lives. General, begin loading our infantry back on board and we shall retreat to the stronghold."

"Very good, my lady." Dahria says as she turns to the Captain, "Chavai, this is your operation now. Well dispatch two mounted-shuttles to you in order for you complete you mission."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Chavai responds bowing.

Before she can leave another asari enters the room with haste and wears the same armour but with a double silver strip, "Ma'am."

"Speak, Colonel." Dahria says.

"With just got a report from our scout team. They just encountered a group of Drone-Skirmishers in the woods to the south."

"Tell them to retreat. We're leaving." The General orders as she turns to the Duchess, "My Lady, I suggest we leave as soon as possible."

"Agreed. Good luck, Chavai." The Duchess says before Chavai, the General and the Colonel leave.

Within the base all is silent as All-Feather seems to have lost the Geth but that was far from the truth as the Geth forces were closing in on the quarian. One trooper in particular was extremely close and wasn't prepared for next attack because in seconds both its head and forearms are removed from one move from All-Feather who was hiding behind the wall it was approaching. From this the Geth turn to that direction and begin moving towards his position.

The group of two juggernauts and ten troopers are closing in and All-Feather has to think quickly as he climbs up to the roof and pulls out his sniper rifle. He doesn't just use the weapon to shoot as he presses a button on the weapon and a holographic bayonet appears. He aims at one of the juggernauts and fires. The shot is on target and the Geth falls while the other eleven turn and now know where their target is.

Rhea is nearing the plaza and sees that she has obstacles of her own as the Colossi were currently shut down but activate when a presence is detected. The asari is out of their radar and watches while her quarian accomplice is currently engaging the Geth.

He starts with shooting down two more geth before pulling out a knife and throwing it at another. Jumping down, he rolls and thrust the rifle like a spear as he impales another and turns left to slice another across the chest and finishing him off temporally with a thrust to the shoulder. He turns to face another trooper and impales the chest and uses his strength to lift him up and with momentum lands on the previous Geth but he doesn't finish there when the remaining juggernaut runs towards him. He spins and crouches while pointing bayonet down and the Geth trips over and All-Feather stabs the rifle in its back and twists.

He then puts his rifle away and takes two knives to jump and scales the wall with haste before looking towards the plaza and taking his time. He plans a course while the Geth continue to shoot but he has found a way as he jumps the first building, then the second before scaling the third because it was higher but not too high. When he reaches the top he quickly steps across a thin archway before getting to the main plaza and seeing Rhea was having trouble. He throws the first knife and it hits the Colossus in the northeast corner and the one that would most likely see Rhea.

The Colossus awakes and begins to climb onto his legs. It looks towards the quarian as he stands waiting for it to attack. It complies and the firing shot of electricity hurls towards him. He jumps out the way and lands on top of the other before that awakens as well.

Rhea's quick to use the opportunity as she sprints across the plaza and slides underneath the walking Colossus and gets herself back up. She runs hastily up the steps before reaching the door which leads to the hall. When it opens she uses the doorway as cover and gives All-Feather some cover-fire. The quarian is now riding the Colossus and pulls out his rifle again to fire at the troopers entering the plaza. As the Colossus is trying to chase All-Feather he jumps off and rolls underneath before shooting upwards and uses its movement as a barrier from the small Geth by picking them off one by one.

The Collossus was beginning to move erratically and the quarian couldn't determine which direction it was going but with the additional Colossus opening fire it had to find a way to escape. Rhea shoots down a group from the doorway and covers All-Feather as he begins his retreat. The quarian puts away his rifle and climbs up one of the Colossus' leg and mounts it again only continues to the neck to get their attention. Under heavy fire he pulls out his blade and stabs the Geth cleanly as its light fades.

All-Feather pulls out the blade and leans forwards towards Rhea position and where a group of were shooting. With this direction he is able to crush the Geth squad and land in front of the steps where he runs up fast enough for Rhea to close the door and shoot the keypad to avoid entry from the outside.

The Geth hadn't entered the structure and didn't know that Sintarrio and Juna had escaped via a secret exit. They walk down a dark hallway as they look at the various asari arts that are on display here as paintings and sculptures are built into the hallway towards the former Marquis' chambers.

Rhea looks around while pressing her headset, "Zeki, we're inside the hall. Zeki? Zeki?"

"Hello, old friend." says another voice which happened to be Chavai's.

Rhea's eyes widen as she immediately recognises the voice, "You? What are you doing here?"

"What else? We're just as interested in this location as much as you."

"So you leave it awhile?" Rhea asks referring to the fact the base has been abandoned.

A laughing can be heard, "Funny. You friend Zeki, along with the other quarian and the Spectre are all with us and we're ready to propose a deal."

"What kind of the deal?" Rhea says looking at All-Feather.

"You know what kind of deal. An exchange, only you're going to do the dirty work." Chavai offers though it's more an order.

"What do you want and I'll see if I want to do your dirty work?" she says before walking towards the main hall.

"I can't divulge too much and you're not in a position to know. It's simple, Sintarrio is here and we know why, however we're already pursuing him." She says as she sent a few squads into the secret entrance.

"So why do you need me?"

"We have some vital information stored in lower levels. If you can retrieve this information and deliver it to us, your friends are yours."

"What is this information and where is it?" Rhea asks hoping to find and answer.

"The information is schematics for a weapon. Tell me, T'Anya. Do you want another enemy in a war that is not your own or a temporary ally?" Chavai asks and has a good point.

Rhea sighs and thinks about whether or not it's the wright choice but knows she has a duty to her friends, "Fine, I'll do it?"

"Good. I'll tell the squads that are distracting Sintarrio that you're not to be hurt. You'll get into the lower level via the main hall." She says before cutting the channel.

"Shit. Come on." Rhea commands to All-Feather and the two head for the main hall in front of them.

On the other line Chavai is walking out the shuttle which dropped off Rhea, Difan and INC but now was under her control along with an additional twelve troops as they hold Difan, Zeki and Yentha hostage outside while the group sit tied up so they can't use their hands. She steps off and onto the hard ground of the mountain face which was far east of Rhea's location but they had picked up their signature when they entered the atmosphere.

"Your friend is complying with us." Chavai informs them.

"Shit." Difan says though he is grateful.

Chavai can see that the female quarian is concerned and knows why, "Don't worry, we'll honour our deal."

"Like you did with your allies?" Zeki asks because the last time she saw Chavai she was working alongside Krinal and Sintarrio.

"The Emissary attacked us first?" Chavai states and isn't happy.

"Did they? You went against their request and you didn't expect they would be pissed off?" Zeki asks and knows they have tried to kill Rhea.

"If you're talking about killing T'Anya, this goes further up than you think and even beyond me." The Captain says and alluding to something else.

"So, your organisation doesn't tell you everything? Wow, sounds like you're getting played." Zeki says and getting under her skin.

"Fuck you! You know nothing of us." Chavai says snapping before facing away.

Zeki laughs, "I don't think anybody does."

Yentha leans over to Zeki, "Zeki, keep quite. These people mean business. If Rhea fails they'll kill us."

Sintarrio stands within the lower levels underneath the Scythe base though it could be argued that this was the real place as the rooms were built with a spherical structure while the hallways were cylinder to protect them from the earth surrounding them. The room they were inside at this time was huge and round and at the bottom there was water while the platform above had railings and the columns holding the platform reach from the pool to the ceiling. In the centre was another floor above it where there was an experiment that Scythe was working on.

The structure happened to be nothing more than a glass sphere with a tube vertically placed inside but inside was a dark grey liquid. This apparatus is surrounded with various machines and sits on a generator for a specific purpose. The room was inhabited by Sinatrrio and Juna and the some of the drones while the others were patrolling the hallways of this extensive facility.

"I thought this was just a weapons factory?" Juna says observing the liquid.

Sintarrio leans on the balcony and looks into the water, "It is, but that's not the only thing they do here. They develop new weapons and concepts that would help them in their crusade."

"And this is one of them?" Juna asks not seeing its value.

He turns his head to face her, "No, this is in fact a stolen concept of Krinal's. It's a liquid alloy that both you and I have. Krinal states that asari want to create similar weapons out of this but doesn't know what."

"So this is the stuff on my skin?" Juna leans in and looks closely.

He smiles and reminisces, "Yes. Only Krinal knows how to use it. I don't know how the Emissary did it but if it wasn't for this stuff then neither of us would be alive."

"Do you think they want to make the Duchess immortal?" Juna wonders as the Duchess was an enigma as it is and like Krinal her intentions were unclear.

"I don't think so. They want to use this for something else and Krinal's is concerned." He answers standing straight.

**2185- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"So you lost a document and evidence indicating that Rhea T'Anya is here on the Citadel?" Udina says while looking towards the balcony of Anderson's office.

He wasn't alone as both David Anderson and Bjorn Magnusson are inside as well with the Alliance Major sitting opposite Shepard's mentor. The three of them aren't happy and know of Rhea and her presence but there was a problem. Oristar Brutagus took the information on Rhea from Bjorn as he was leaving Captain Bailey's office on Zakera Ward.

"And it was Brutagus who took them off me." Bjorn adds.

"Is in league with T'Anya?" Anderson wonders due to his lack of political knowledge on this.

Udina answers, "I've met Brutagus a few times and each time he's been smart. When we gained access to Council records we couldn't find anything incriminating on him. But no one will believe you, Bjorn."

"Not even the Alliance?" he asks them.

"No, you remembered what happened with Saren on Eden Prime? We needed significant proof that he was a traitor in order to get him stripped of his status." Udina recounts Shepard's actions.

"But he's committed theft against an Alliance Official." Bjorn states but sees Anderson's face.

He leans on his desk, "Yes, but your investigation is under the nose of everyone else. No will believe you and if they did, Humanity would pay the price for its carelessness."

Bjorn sighs as he puts a cigarette in his mouth, "So what do we do? We can't place an Alliance presence on an investigation that shouldn't exist but neither can we let T'Anya loose to do what she wants."

"I know. It's a checkmate and Brutagus knew it as well. So what do we do?" Anderson asks Udina who knows loopholes that could be exploited.

Bjorn looks out towards the presidium and realises something, "Well there is something in that file that was interesting."

"Well? Spit it out." Udina says turning around.

He leans in, "I recognised someone in one of the images that Bailey gave me. It was that pilot, Moreau?"

"Joker? What's he doing here?" Anderson asks not knowing what he has been up to.

"He's not an Alliance soldier, he's Cerberus. I think his mission is over whatever it was." Udina says also in the dark.

"The Collectors?" Anderson says realises that Shepard and Joker must have visited the Collector base, "So they did it. But at what cost?"

Udina sits on the desk, "I know as little as you and going through the Shadow Broker isn't wise nowadays. Remember, Liara's made a crusade against him and we don't know how that's going. We'll have to wait and see what comes of this but all we can do is wait for the turian to make his next move."

Their answer was happening right now as Brutagus isn't on the Citadel anymore but isn't far away as he is on Bekenstein within the Boltzmann System. He was waiting outside a mansion with the briefcase he took from Bjorn while he looks at the skyline of the capital city. When the doors open an asari who is wearing a grey dress or human design as is was looser than most fashions and showed the left arm while the other was covered in a silk material. The dress reached to her ankles and where stilettos of the same colour.

She walks up to Brutagus and wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him with passion and smiles, "Hey."

Brutagus hold one of her hips, "Hey, how are you? And where's my daughter?"

"She's studying." She says escorting him up the steps of the mansion, "Your friend is generous paying for her education."

"Well that means you still have what's left of my money to spend." he replies in jest.

"Our money, remember you gave it to me? Besides, your mother called and yes, again." She remarks as they enter the building.

The turian sighs, "Santi, she's nearly a hundred. You're older than her. Can't you talk to her about the past or something to keep her occupied?"

"But she has determination like you and she wants to see her granddaughter. Besides, that's not all, your brother and sisters are still concerned about you paying for her care." she says rubbing his arms.

"I can afford it, what's the problem?" he asks with concern for his siblings.

"But they feel guilty for it. You're too generous and it bothers them. Besides, they're coming here in a few days from Palaven."

His expression becomes blank as he didn't see it coming, "Oh no. What did I do?"

Santi smiles and hugs him, "Nothing, I invited them including your mother. You don't see your family enough. Besides, it'll be a good cover from what you've been doing."

"I know but you're my family more. Besides I can't cook and you don't eat it anyway." He says as an escape goat.

She kisses him again, "I'll cook. He's waiting for you. I'll be working. I have a job you know?" she says before kissing him again and walking up a staircase.

Brutagus smiles as he looks at the mansion of human design and knows who occupies it. The place looked like many residences on the planet but this in particular was much bigger in size and more money was spent on the decoration. He walks down the main hall to get a good look at the view outside before turning left and down a small flight of steps and then turning around to walk down another pair. He then takes a left into an elevator and waits for the door to close behind him and waits.

When it opens he enters a room that resembles a shooting ranging and noises were being made at the end as Brutagus walks towards the person he wants to meet. The person was a salarian of a greenish-blue colour and his eyes were dark red. He wore a grey suit of the finest tailoring and was firing an M-96 Mattock towards a target and was accurate in hitting the holographic human target's head. To untrained eye he would be any other salarian but Brutagus knows him to be very important.

He stops firing and puts the rifle on the table in front of the range and turns to shake his hand, "Nice isn't it, the gun I mean?" he looks at the briefcase, "I take it you have it?"

The turian passes him the case before they head to a nearby desk and sits opposite him, "It wasn't that hard to find. Bjorn Magnusson had it."

"Magnusson?" he laughs a little before opening the briefcase and taking out the file to read it quickly, "Whoa, she done more in the past twenty years than we realised. Why do you think the Alliance hid it?"

"Rhea was wanted by the authorities for years, I don't think this is only file but it's the only one that isn't empty. Besides, the evidence in there is very important and could cripple the Alliance's credibility." Brutagus informs him.

"I know. I recognise that pilot in the file. That Shepard's guy isn't it?" he says referring to Joker.

He responds by nodding, "Yeah, Rhea has him. You shouldn't be too concerned. They probably won't see each other again. I also found out some additional information. Cerberus is again after her and trying to kill her."

The salarian laughs, "Who isn't? Listen, you know the Illusive Man? He is becoming less and less the Illusive Man and more All Eyes on Me Man. The Alliance already has their problems with him, the batarians hate him and if the turians knew where he was he would be dead by now. Cerberus is after her for you know what? That's why we put her in Purgatory." He reveals though twenty-five years ago she and Brutagus were allies.

Brutagus smiles and thinks back, "And now she's out. She was put in the same type of facility as Subject Zero and Shepard was good enough to get her out but doesn't know that. Cerberus succeeded in destroying the Collectors you know?"

"Of course I know and they've held the Reapers back for a while but they're coming anyway and we must be ready as much as Rhea.!" the salarian says impatiently.

"Okay! Okay! I get it." The turian defends himself from the salarian's tone, "Tell me, you see more of my wife and daughter these days. How are they doing?"

"Santi is a marvel at her job and your daughter is smarter than I am. And I'm sorry for snapping back there." He apologises before continuing, "You know, I should have died years ago. Salarians only need one hour of sleep and the rest of day is ours but in return we have one of shortest lifespans in the galaxy. My people always have the curiosity of what it would be like have what you have let alone the asari or krogan but now I know. Growing old was strange but growing past you sell-by-date is stranger. My brothers are dead, my sister as well but I have to endure. Oristar, if this time wasn't so important I would be happily dead."

Brutagus thinks to himself of whether he would prefer to be in that position, "But you not. You're here and we've got a job to do. The files you have are what we needed and the Alliance can't touch me but they may try something else."

"What do you think it will be?" The salarian wonders.

He smiles, "The Alliance isn't directly my problem, Udina is. He knows we have them by the balls and truth is we don't intend to do anything with it."

The salarian can read his face, "But you need to go back?"

"I have some unfinished business." Brutagus says standing up and walking back towards the elevator.

"Oristar!" he shouts before he enters the elevator, "Good luck."

"Thanks…Sedath." He says breathing out heavily.


	36. A Finely Woven Plan: Part III

**Chapter XXXVI: A Finely Woven Plan: Part III**

**20/07/2160- Aite, Typhon System, Phoenix Massing**

Rhea and All-Feather are inside the hall of the main building within the Scythe base where Sintarrio and Juna are beneath them. The asari sits in the chair where the male turian sat during his occupation of the place and All-Feather was in the centre of room looking for clues of how to get underneath the structure. The Geth were outside as well but hadn't risked entering because of the heavy losses they sustained when they attacked the pirates and then All-Feather himself.

Rhea waits a few seconds before hearing her helmet buzzing and takes the call, "Took you long enough."

"Well it's hard getting classified information. Most of us have left." Chavai replies and who is still holding Yentha, Zeki and Difan hostage.

"That's good news for me. What are these symbols?" Rhea asks looking at the keypad on the armrest.

"Didn't you take history class? These symbols pre-date asari space travel." Chavai states in an authoritative tone.

Rhea smiles in disbelief, "A dead language? You real fill the niche for secret society don't you?"

"Whatever. I'm transmitting a few symbols to your omni-tool, and this is the sequence you'll need to get to the lower levels." She states and a sound comes from Rhea's wrist afterwards.

Rhea looks at the sequence, "Good. Remember our deal?"

"Of course. The Duchess doesn't like your company but if you're fighting our enemy she'll help you out." Chavai assures though Rhea is still suspicious.

"By taking my friends hostage? I guess that was your idea?"

She responds by laughing, "Oh I enjoy ruining your life, it's fun for me. I'm also sending a map of the facility and where you need to go. See you later."

Rhea sighs and opens her omni-tool and closely types in the password from a dead language. Like Sintarrio before her it accepts as All-Feather is startled at first but moves from the centre of the room as the entrance to the lower levels opens and the staircase forms. Rhea stands and walks down the steps to find that the entrance is deep below their position but after an awhile an abrupt end occurs. Rhea looks at All-Feather and nods as he leads the expedition while Rhea builds herself an assault rifle out of her pistol and entersbehind him.

When they reach the bottom they see only one direction to enter. The circular hallway of silver walls and low florescent light gives them only a partial picture of where they are heading. Rhea decides to go first and slowly pointing her weapon forwards while All-Feather covers the rear. They walk about fifty yards before they enter the first room.

It is nothing more than a hub to other rooms but each one serves a purpose to this organisation. The room had three floors in the centre and the water below the lowest floor with a balcony on each one. The three floors have a door on each side but Rhea brings up her omni-tool again and looks to see which direction she needs to go. The directions tell her to go to the second floor at the west entrance as she directs herself and All-Feather towards the third floor which they were currently on.

On the other side of the facility Sintarrio and Juna were doing their duty as Sintarrio orders that the sphere of grey liquid be removed and the drones are handling it with care. The two drones were holding an additional apparatus to handle the sphere and were cautious in movement as they head towards a door and wait for their commander.

Juna turns to Sinatrrio and nods, "We're ready to go then?"

Sinatrrio crosses his arms, "You are. I have to stay here."

She looks at him confused, "What? I thought-"

He focuses away from Juna, "My radar is scrambling again. I think Rhea T'Anya is here or the drone that is with her."

"I can take care of it." She insists.

"No, it must be me. You need to get that experiment back to Korlus along with the information about possible Scythe attacks. They've located us here but this passage way is self-built by Krinal. Follow it and you'll find a shuttle." He instructs as an order.

"Okay, what are you going to do?" she wonders.

He smiles, "Destroy the Scythe contingent. My radar picked up a squad signal to the east. I'm going to check it out. " he says walking through the door in the opposite direction to them.

Within space are the six frigates that visited Aite and were in possession of the Scythe. The reaper-inspired ships travel with haste but due to the size of Krinal's fleet it could be understood why they are traveling this way. Inside one of these frigates is the Duchess herself sitting on a make-shift throne in the captain's cabin while with her are both General Dahria, Marquis Diniva and other important people in the hierarchy of this organisation. They all look at the map of Aite's surface and where they had once been.

The General speaks to her assistant before looking to the Duchess, "My Lady, T'Anya has been compliant so far?"

"She would if we have her friends in our custody." The Duchess states before looking at the General and her intention, "I know what you're thinking, so don't give Chavai a chance to kill them."

This decision causes many of the Marquises to talk among themselves, "You disagree? Most of Rhea's company consist of aliens."

"I know, but if we don't honour this bargain, we both lose." She says with an awe of wisdom, "Tell me what's our new strategy and plan of attack?"

General Dahria orders the change of map and refers to a view of the galaxy, "The Emissary rarely splits the fleet into two but they have this time, my contact informed me. One contingent gone to Tuchanka for 'you know who' and the remaining ships are heading across the Terminus Systems towards the Eagle Nebula."

"The Eagle Nebula?" she says with interest leaning in and taking a closer look.

Dahria nods, "Yes, I think this is where the Emissary has been situated for so long. It can't be Tuchanka because it is DMZ and has a Council presence. My intel suggests the Emissary is based on Korlus."

"What do you suggest?" she wonders with intrigue though she isn't an advanced military mind.

"A plan of attack but we can't attack them there." Dahria says to the confusion of everyone else.

The Duchess smiles at the thought, "Why not? We take on the fleet can't we? I've spent enough money on ships."

"Yes but if we attack Korlus and all of sudden it gets to Tuchanka then they'll corner our fleet and destroy at least a third." She reveals to her.

"Before we can destroy them?"

"Before we can escape." She says and informs about the power of Krinal's fleet, "Krinal has destroyed many of our Enclaves but give the order to regroup at our strongholds. There, we can create a campaign for this war."

The word causes the asari to talk even more among themselves again but the Duchess continues, "A war? If the Council knew what we have at our disposal, Krinal will be only the first of our troubles."

"It won't be that type of war. It will be a stealth war in which there will be many skirmishes. We can beat those pirates but its Krinal's infantry that will be prolonged conflicts." General Dahria ensures her.

"So where we have bases like Aite there will be invasions?"

Dahria nods, "Yes, but that's where we should be retreating to. Your palace isn't known to Krinal so you're safe there but your other fortresses in the Terminus and Attican Traverse are the bigger threats to incursions."

"Okay, and you ordered this when Aite was attacked?" The Duchess wonders though she trusts her General.

"Yes. Krinal won't attack Thessia. He has no reason to if you're not there." She says before hearing a beeping sound and pressing the table, "Speak, Chavai."

The Captain speaks immediately, "Rhea is doing her job. Is there additional orders?"

"No, Captain. Carry on." the General looks at the Duchess, "Are we ready to declare war?"

"I'll do it when we return to the Palace." She says and gets the nod from her General in agreement.

**2185- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Anderson sits in his office with Bjorn thinking about their next plan of action. It has come to their attention about Brutagus taking Bjorn's research into Rhea as well as numerous documents on her exploits. They are both stressed because for Anderson it was routine interview gone array and for Bjorn it was a delicate investigation.

They both stand when Udina enters, "I've managed to get the recordings that you were given by Captain Bailey. I believe you were wright about her and Joker."

"So the Normandy's back?" Anderson says before asking another question, "Do you know why it's here?"

"I don't know but Joker would be able to indicate whether or not the Collector assault was successful." Udina says not fully aware.

"That doesn't matter. Jeff Moreau has been kidnapped and that is a reason to find him." Anderson states also not fully aware of the situation either.

"We can't just send troops onto the wards searching for a criminal and nor can C-Sec." Udina objects as he sits on the desk and turns to Bjorn, "We should focus on the file, not Joker and Rhea T'Anya."

"I agree. Alliance brass will be pissed and they can't do anything about it. So Brutagus is our only lead. Can't you keep a track of him when he returns?" Bjorn asks.

"I can. Do you think he'll be back?" Udina asks interested.

"If T'Anya is here still, he will be too." Bjorn answers before leaving the two senior officials.

Joker sits listening to this whole mission and how it got more complicated than it should have as they were meant to discover what was going in the base. He like Rhea has finished his coffee and the group are still on edge due to the goings on outside.

"So, you went down and you didn't realise the asari were there?" Joker asks and amazed of how such a well-planned mission went array before it started.

Rhea smiles though not proud of herself, "No, despite knowing about the Scythe they were just as secretive. This was the first communication with them since Intai'sei two years before. They didn't know we were there until we landed and they saw us."

"And you must have been scared that Chavai had you?" he says looking at Zeki.

"I was, but it wasn't the first time either." She answers also referring to Intai'sei.

Joker then thinks about whom else was there at the time, "Where was INC during this? You said the drone escaped capture."

"And it was fortunate for us that happened because without INC we wouldn't have known what to do when we found out." Rhea says before sighing.

"Found out what?" Joker looks at the others and realises that they found something, "What were they doing?"

Rhea looks up smiling and answers, "Too much for me to take."…

**20/07/2160- Aite, Typhon System, Phoenix Massing**

Juna waits inside a small hanger bay that looks out towards the vast expanse of land through a cliff and a waterfall in front of it. The shuttle she is about to use is one of the Scythe's and like the frigates is reaper-shaped with the exception of the tentacles and in their place was a ramp. The sphere of grey liquid is being transported inside the shuttle while she follows them.

They are not the only ones in the hanger bay as INC is also there but has shielded itself from detection and wears its stealth cloak while flying through the bay and towards the circular door and it opens and allows the drone to pass. Juna hears the doors opening and closing and walks out of the shuttle briefly and looks towards the entrance with suspicion. She sighs before looking back and walking into the shuttle again.

Rhea and All-Feather are still within the facility and are making good progress. They have followed Chavai's map and are about halfway towards their destination. The room they entered is much larger than most and serves special-purpose compared to others. The room has three floors in which they were at the upper floor and there was a small staircase leading to the lower level. This was a laboratory and knew this from the experiment they look upon.

"What is this thing?" Rhea asks as she looks up at the object in front of her.

The object was the experiment itself as the shape was what looks like a follow-on from the K-Thousand project. There was a set of stasis tubes in which the Scythe attempted to clone Krieg but unlike Krieg they hadn't had much success and their ideas were more twisted abominations. These are not complete clones they had attempted to keep these alive via tubes and must have had volunteers in order to produce them as they were female and with asari features.

These bodies were fully grown to the maiden stage but were severely malnourished and were dead but Rhea doesn't know what to think as not only do they have asari features but Krieg's as well. The features from the grey alien are more mutated though as the faces cheekbones and jawline were more pronounced and growing out of them were spiny scales that make their faces grotesque.

"Good thing they're dead. Don't you agree?" Sintarrio says as he climbs up out of the water onto the balcony of the upper floor, "This is who we're fighting." Rhea and All-Feather turn and point their weapons at him, "Don't bother. I wasn't looking for you anyway. Your drone is causing quite a disturbance."

"I don't care." she says firing at him though the bullets do minimal damage.

Sintarrio uses the balcony to run and dodge the bullets before diving back into the water. Rhea directs to All-Feather to be on guard and quarian intends to be as quiet as possible. He puts his rifle on his back and pulls out his blade before jumping on the balcony himself and looking into the water below.

The turian makes his next move as he jumps up on the east side and is open to Rhea's gunfire but immediately backflips and grabs the bottom of the balcony to swing into the lower level and out of the both their sights. Both the asari and quarian hear noises underneath and are patient but unaware of what is happening. They get their answer before they can react and Sintarrio jumps next to All-Feather and trips him. The quarian falls but grabs the balcony of the lower level and pulls himself up while the turian smiles as he begins approaching Rhea.

Rhea fires few shots but are again weak as Sintarrio knocks the gun out of her hand grabs her by the neck and lifts her. He begins to squeeze and Rhea can feel that the grip is too strong and when she begins to feel a daze he drops her but with a scream. When she crawls back it appears that one of All-Feather knives is lodged into his thigh and has been effective unlike the ranged weapons. All-Feather himself is climbing back on top the upper level and picks up his blade.

Sintarro watches the quarian's advance and pulls the knife from his leg and watches it heal quickly enough to stand. The quarian attempts an impaling attack but the turian moves and grabs the wrist before using his foot to sweep him into the air. When he grabs him with the other hand as well with All-Feather horizontal to him he pushes him with force across the room and into the wall which in turn causes the quarian down into fall into the water below.

Sintarrio turns towards Rhea who grabs her weapon points it at him, "Rhea T'Anya, you've been a thorn in Krinal's side for five years now and yet you don't seem to want to give up."

Rhea keeps her aim, "Not when people are chasing me. It's a bit hard to settle down in those circumstances." She says shooting towards him though his advance is swift. She rolls out of the way and heads down the stair case of the lower level which was nothing but a maze of machines.

Sintarrio leaps over the balcony and holds himself against the wall. He lowers himself to the height of the lower floor, "You understand less than your grey friend, believe me. You're lucky I can speak to you like this because your drone is scrabbling Krinal's grasp on me." He reveals as INC's scrambling has its benefits, "You must listen now. Krieg was on Tuchanka fourteen days ago and is still moving. This war will centre on him and you."

"A pretty pathetic excuse for a war?" she states looking through a gap and aiming.

Sintarrio smiles before the shot is fired though he spins out the way and still remains clenched against the wall, "But a needed war. They intend to kill Krieg and we intend to keep him safe."

"I don't believe you." She says while taking out the thermal clip and replaces it.

He leaps to the upper balcony, "You know more than anyone else, but you just realise it. I will tell you this, you'll be surprised beyond belief of what Krinal has planned." He says walking slowly on the edge of the balcony and waiting for a moment to strike, "And those schematics you're looking for. You'll understand why we fight them now when you give them to Chavai."

Rhea remains on the lower level but can hear his movements, "What's on them?"

"Maybe your drone can find out. It'll be there before you are." He looks and sees her walking up the staircase and still aiming at him, "By the way, your friends will be there untouched."

"Why? What's your angle?" Rhea asks confused why Sintarrio is being so cooperative.

"No angle. The Emissary has no use for them now. It doesn't see the point in keeping them." The turian jumps towards the east exit and doors open, "Oh, and your friend Krieg, he killed Bylok's wife. It's something you should know."

All-Feather meanwhile had just pulled himself out of the water and back onto the lower level of the room. He wipes what wetness he can before quickly making his way back up to Rhea who leans on the balcony with disbelief over what the turian has just told. From what she could remember she knew that Krieg and herself escaped the volus station and went to Eden Prime but her friend never revealed the full story.

The quarian puts his hand on her shoulder to regain her attention as she looks at him and remembers what they were doing before this occurred. She opens her omni-tool and the map of the facility with the knowledge of not only a destination but the location of her allies. She then looks at the west exit knowing that is the next step and proceeds to walk towards it but not without looking again at what the Scythe had been doing.

The Scythe themselves were still within their frigates and were as far away from the commotion as possible while the Duchess and her chief staff continue talks of their campaign against their recent enemy, the Emissary. The General was talking with her officers about their priorities as the map of the Galaxy showed the locations of their strongholds and most importantly the Palace where the Duchess would retire to.

They know that this war would be centralised within the Attican Traverse and Terminus Systems border and where the Council couldn't or wouldn't intervene. Their bases were in certain systems within the Traverse and unlike asari space wouldn't attract attention as planets included Feros, Ontarom and Verr.

The General turns to the Duchess, "My lady, we've sent messages to the other fleets and posted their strongholds to make their headquarters."

"Very well, which marquises will be allocated to each stronghold?" The Duchess asks her.

"With all due respect, my lady. In a time of war the marquises are not the authority." Dahria states.

Marquis Diniva intervenes, "Excuse me, General but you have no authority over us. Many in our armies still hold us the authority over them."

The General turns to the Marquis, "Indeed, but as General of this army and with the announcement that we are to go to war, I override your authority with the Duchess's permission only."

"And I give you that permission, General." The Duchess adds causing the entourage of her subordinates to object.

"My lady, we serve you, and we continue to serve you. But most of the soldiers belong to our chapters and they have followed our orders for centuries." Marquis Diniva protests with the others agreeing with her.

"And you have followed my orders for centuries!" She shouts in frustration and causes the marquises to silence themselves as she stands up, "I lead you, war or not. I would remember that as I did with my predecessor. In this time more than ever you must put your faith in me and I put my faith in my General." She states and her subordinates understand her position. The Duchess then turns back to her general, "What are we going to do with the marquises?"

The General stands firm, "They cannot go back to the asari space because of the likelihood that they would be assassinated neither can they assist in our campaign. My suggestion is that they serve as your counsel while you remain at the Palace."

The Duchess thinks to herself knowing that it is a risk either way, "What will happen to their chapters disciples?"

"They will be drafted into the army where they will undergo training and then posted to a stronghold." Dahria says so that they are able to train any remaining asari left.

"What of those carrying child or have small children?" The Duchess asks not knowing the full protocol.

"They will have to be kept safe within a secret location where they can continue their studies. My lady, I and my predecessors have prepared for this scenario in case it would happen." She reveals.

"And I am sorry that it has come now." The Duchess says with regret and sorrow.

Back on Aite, Rhea and All-Feather are travelling down yet another hallway of the facility which is proving to be more of a maze than they initially imagined. However they knew where they were going and were closing in on their target as they enter the room and find their primary objective.

The room is the same shape as the others though considerably smaller and only had the one floor in which there was a small ramp heading down to a console in which Rhea needed to download the data from. Around this console are various pipes and machinery that gave the facility power and had been affected by the damage done above.

Yet this circular room was nothing more than a hub and storage space for the basic power systems of the facility and near them were objects of great importance to Rhea. The four pods that contained Ecroy, Brutagus, Garahie and Tido were lined up against the wall near to the destination that Rhea needed to be. The only problem was that the space was crawling with drones and they were what were left behind but the number was too much to count.

Rhea covers All-Feather while the quarian changes the barrel of his rifle in order to make it more affective. Rhea's modified-pistol is affective on these drones compared to Sintarrio and is able to keep them at bay but even this will eventually become futile as the drones number make casualties acceptable. When the quarian is ready he aims his rifle and fires at the closest drone. It explodes like it did in the forests and immediately Krinal's programming gives them an immediate response and that is to give way to him. As he walks down the ramp and continues firing at the drones Rhea fires at those only partially scarred from the rebuttal of All-Feather's shells though is only successful in taking down two before they reach the pods.

All-Feather is curious as he is pokes one of these destroyed drones on the ground and all it does is move in another direction as he looks at Rhea confused. She walks up to the pods and looks at the closest one to her right but can't see inside.

She is about to attempt opening the pod until she hears a strange sound coming from the furthest corner and turns to aim her weapon towards a group of piping and All-Feather does the same. The quarian holds his rifle and readies it for fire but instead of pulling the trigger he switches on the bayonet and jumps up towards where the noise came from. This causes a few sparks to fly and the perpetrator of the mysterious sounds reveals itself as nothing more than INC.

Rhea sighs and points a weapon away, "It's you. Couldn't you have told me you were inside here?"

"Negative: I scrambled the radar of all presence including your own."

She sighs, "Well that didn't stop Sintarrio paying me a little visit, did it?"

"Explanation: Sintarrio's radar was scrambled of yours and my presence. However your conversations with Captain Chavai could be tracked from her location and where the channel closes in on." It states and revealing how Sintarrio found Rhea with ease.

"Well that makes perfect sense." She says with a hint of sarcasm before looking at the machine and curious about something on her mind, "INC, when we were on the station orbiting Zada Bin did Krieg kill an asari."

The drone had not been asked this question before though it witnessed Krieg lock the asari inside the bathroom of her en-suite and remove the oxygen causing her to suffocate. "Affirmative."

Rhea breathes heavily when hearing this as she didn't realise, "I can't believe it. Why would he do this?" she looks back to INC, "Can you download the databanks from the console and load them to my omni-tool."

Her mind can't seem to focus though realises that her allies are still trapped as she watches All-Feather attempting to open one of the pods with one of his knives. He is successful in lodging it into the small dent as he slowly but successfully cuts down and a few seconds later the pod opens. He is surprised however to find that the first person to fall out is Garahie and helps the salarian sit down while handing a knife to Rhea and she repeats the process.

Within five minutes the pair has opened two more pods as the bodies of Brutagus and Tido are placed side-by-side despite the report that Tido had betrayed them. The last to open was Ecroy's and when they finish the krogan steps out of wearing only the under layer of the armour he wore. Unlike the others he is okay and was simply cramped within but doesn't have any of the symptoms that show apart from paleness in his skin.

"Where the fuck am I?" he says looking at his hand with blurred vision, "Rhea?"

She approaches him and looks into his eye-line, "I'm here Ecroy. Tell me what happened."

"I was hoping you could tell me?" He says rubbing his head and looking around only to see All-Feather watching the others and INC downloading file, "Oh, well I got here okay but the rendezvous was a trap and I fell for it."

Rhea remembers the incident where Yero was dead and Ecroy's armour was nothing more than a ruse, "We did as well. Me and Difan found your armour and it was rigged to blow, turns out I was being tailed? This is All-Feather?"

The krogan looks at the quarian and instantly recognises what he is, "A Wisp?" he says as the quarian turns to him, "Well I don't remember him but I remember being ambushed by the Geth."

"I know. Apparently you were submerged in the lake for a while with Tido." She informs as they both stare at the drell who unlike Brutagus and Garahie is unconscious.

Ecroy crouches when he approaches him, "I wonder why he betrayed us? Do you know?" he asks turning to her.

Rhea looks at Tido and doesn't understand what was going on as she makes a hard decision, "I'm not sure but we keep him alive for now. Agreed?"

"Sure. What is this place?" he says observing the drones scattered about the place.

She does the same, "It the lower levels of the base. Sintarrio put you here for some reason."

Ecroy turns towards her confused, "Sintarrio put us here? Why would he give us back to you?"

"I don't know but there is a more pressing issue. Difan, Yentha and Zeki are being held hostage by the Scythe." She reveals to him.

This alerts Ecroy as he doesn't like the sound of their presence, "The asari are here? I thought only Krinal's faction was occupying this place."

"They were. They ordered me to recover some schematics that INC is downloading now but when you're ready we better get going." She informs her before turning towards INC who was focusing in the console, "INC, do you know what's on those schematics."

"Processing: The databanks are encrypted with the same firewalls as Brutagus' data. It will take a while to decrypt."

"We'll do it back on the Malal." She turns to look at the other three, "Get up!"

"The Geth sure got us good." Garahie says before looking around as he only remembers that he was outside, "I take it we're someplace new?"

"It's a long story. We need to save the others now." Rhea says before seeing Brutagus look at Tido with caution.

"Okay." He says before facing her, "What about him?"

Ecroy stands and helps the drell up though is having trouble, "If Tido is responsible for Yero's death than Difan and Enti will want answers or his head."

"Tido is my responsibility. Difan won't touch him if I have anything to say about it!" Rhea shouts in frustration though the others are confused by her behaviour.

Brutagus walks up to the drell and Ecroy holding him. He lifts Tido chin and sees he is not responding, "Well, he looks out of it anyway so I guess it won't be hard to comply with us?"

"Ecroy, keep support of him. Garahie, Brutagus, keep watch." Rhea orders and readies her weapon.

"Easier said than done, we have no weapons." Garahie says and rubs his head.

INC has finished the downloading and hovers in front of the group, "Suggestion: There is an emergency hanger-bay within the facility."

"There is? How do you know?" the salarian asks intrigued.

"Answer: I came through that entrance. There is one shuttle left though Scythe forces are advancing on our location."

Rhea hears her helmet signalling an incoming call and answers it, "Hello?"

"You've got them?" Chavai asks and not hearing an answer, "We still have your friends."

"Of course I have it. We're making our way out now."

"Good. A change of plan however." She says and causing Rhea to sigh, "Don't panic, we're going to make your job easier. We're coming to you."

"Where do I go then?"

"We want to get of this planet as soon as possible. If can find transport we'll do the trade-off air-born not far from here. See you later." Chavai cuts the channel and leaves Rhea with more stress.

"Let's get out of here. Are you two okay?" she asks both Brutagus and Garahie.

Garahie rubs his head again, "I'm fine but that pod did something weird. I felt paralysed."

"Me too and Tido has been in there for week." The turian adds and looks at Ecroy, "Why do you feel fine? You were in there longer than us."

"I know. Maybe we'll find out later." Ecroy says before looking to Rhea, "Any way out here that's quiet and doesn't attract attention?"

"Answer: I entered this room via the ventilation shaft above. There are large enough to walk through and the turbines can be temporarily taken offline." INC answers and turns to the ceiling to reveal that behind some piping is a closed shaft around the size for someone to walk. "It takes us anywhere within the facility. However when we reach the hanger bay there will be a short walk to the destination."

"It'll take some time, but it's that or whatever Krinal and Sintarrio have left behind." Rhea states though Ecroy carries Tido to the location and pulls a disturbing face.

"How are we supposed to get this one in there?" he asks.

Rhea looks up and knows there is at least fifteen feet between them and the shaft. "How are you supposed to you up there? Let me use my biotics on you. You're heavy, so you're first. If we can get you up, we get everyone else up as well."

Ecroy looks at Brutagus who is willing to keep Tido's body upright and walks towards the shaft and waits for Rhea to make the next move. Rhea doesn't use her biotics much but will in dire situations as she puts her right hand in front of her and channels her energy. She holds herself while a blue aura surrounds Ecroy and is slowly lifted upwards. When he is within reaching distance he grabs the vent and lifts it before climbing on top and pulling himself onto the platform. She then focuses on Tido's dazed corpse and lifts him much easier due to him being lighter and Ecory pulls him over while Brutagus gets ready for himself.

The turian does a run up and manages to grab the ledge and Ecroy pulls him up as well and repeats this when Garahie does the same. All-Feather lets Rhea go up first and offers her a leg up and she smiles at his kindness while he then does a run up and pulls himself up and shuts the door behind him. The group then see the long grey shaft they'll travel through as it was spacious and more convenient as Rhea lets INC lead with the rest of them following.

At the hanger bay itself, Sintarrio is standing on the edge of the opening where in front of him the waterfall covers his vision though this is of no real hindrance. He sighs heavily about his encounter with Rhea and words exchanged before thinking of his life before he was what he is now for he was once one of the Turian Hierarchy's most decorated pilots and now in a twist of irony he hears the words 'now I am a ship' rather than piloting one.

His concentration is ruined when the Scythe forces that had entered the caverns that Difan and Yentha intended to enter finally reach a real enemy instead of drones as the infantry were about to face their greatest challenge. This is helped by the fact that coming from outside in are enough drones for Sintarrio to absorb and turn into his most devastating form.

The total asari are twenty in number and all point their assault rifles upon the turian as he is now in perfected form with his jewel chest, forearms and palms and darker tone. The shells of the drones form the turian's armour over his muscles and have a more pronounced collar. His eye glow a fierce blue as he makes the first move.

He dives towards the group and they respond by firing though their bullets are useless and the first two feel Sintarrio's wrath. He grabs the first from his left by the ankle and spins her around before hitting the next and letting go as they both are knocked into the wall. A soldier then uses her biotics and pushes him but his feet clamp onto the ground while he puts his palms forward and lets loose a particle beam and within seconds the soldier and two more are killed with the impact behind them knocking down another two.

He then turns to another array of fire before jumping to the ceiling and crawling in their direction with pace and when he springs down he tackles one before springing from his hands a spinning in the air. When reaches the solider in front while wrapping his feet around her neck and continues spinning which breaks her neck while he lands on his feet. However the spin motion continues when he realises more from his palms and the beams cut through another seven.

There are now six left and they use whatever they can as they tries to lead him towards the opening. Sintarrio defends himself from the first to attack manually and he dodges her shot up close and rips the gun from her hand. He then garbs her by the neck and lifts her above his head before slamming her into the ground. When he stands straight he runs to the next and throws her through the waterfall before being hit by a biotic push and is flung back. As soon as he hits the wall he uses his thrusters to bounce back and tackle the asari. He then punches her in the face with the impact intently killing her.

The three remaining now understand they are not outnumbered but outmatched as their instinct are to abort taking out Sintarrio. They dive out of the water fall and towards the river below but as they jump for freedom so does Sintarrio as he dive out and transforms into his spike-form and immediately dives towards the river to catch up with the others. He release a single energy ball towards the bottom and before the asari hit water the energy does and increases the temperature. Sintarrio flies towards the sky while the asari reacted to the rivers now boiling temperature.

His leaving has come at an opportune moment for Rhea and her group as they are above where they need to be. The group are looking down through an entrance towards a hallway that will lead them to the hanger bay. They wait while Ecroy pulls up the door and the first to jump down is All-Feather followed by Ecroy who anticipates Tido being dropped to him as the krogan and quarian are gentle but are cautious as well. Not long after the other three jump and ready themselves.

Garahie notices his submachine isn't on him and he wasn't the only one defenceless, "We were all disarmed when captured. You don't have anything spare do you?"

Rhea looks at All-Feather who hasn't understood a word of what's being happening and uses her movements to indicate to give her allies a weapon to use. The quarian reaches under his cape and pulls out a spare pistol he carries and gives it to Garahie while giving Brutagus his sniper-rifle. He takes his blade out and with his knives are his only defence. He gets a nod from the turian before Rhea leads the group out of the room and towards their new destination.

The only problem with this was that the drones who escaped are now the only obstacle in their way and they were still high in number. Two drones are outside the entrance of the room and when the doors they are met with gunfire by INC, Brutagus and Rhea. The two are taken down and the group take a left and walk down the hall way with Brutagus and Rhea leading with Ecroy holding Tido behind them and covering their rear are Garahie and All-Feather.

Two more drones turn the corner behind them and Garahie shoots while All-Feather throws a knife and stuns one. The salarian uses this opportunity to aim in-between its three eyes and it falls while the other continues to advance. Rhea and Brutagus are meeting more heated encounters as the drones keep coming in front of them but their weapons are successful in pushing them back.

They advance quickly through their teamwork though the rear guard have done their best to hold back the incoming forces they find that their weapons aren't as useful as All-Feather waits until a drone is up and close before taking out with his blade. INC leads them down another ramp as they turn right and the allied drone flies in front in order to dodges and incoming array of enemy drones. It dodges left then underneath before turning around and fires from behind.

This allows passage into the hanger-bay and as INC leads them to their destination and the wreckage of the slaughter. Rhea sees the asari corpses Sintarrio went through and sighs while INC leads the group to the only remaining shuttle. Ecory carries Tido up the ramp and Brutagus follows while Garahie takes point. All-Feather notices Rhea still looking at the corpses with a tear in her eye and can tell that she is affected by what she sees.

Ecroy walks down the ramp and sees her too and hastily approaches her, "Rhea, let's move."

Rhea turns and breathes heavy, "Okay. Has Brutagus got the ship?"

"He has. He all wants to get the others back as quickly as possible." The krogan says escorting her as they are both about to enter the shuttle.

Rhea presses the side of her helmet, "Chavai, I have them and we're about to leave. You better not play me or I will kill you."

"Good thing I have been ordered to honour our deal. We'll give your friends their shuttle back and all you have to do is send the schematics on a flyby. Got it?" she asks.

Rhea sighs before answering, "I've got it." and enters the shuttle. She walks past the chairs where Ecroy has laid Tido before walking up a small staircase and enters a two-seated cockpit with Brutagus sitting in the other chair. He looks at Rhea and sees the concern on her face as she starts up the engine and begins to take the controls.

"Are you okay?" the turian asks looking at the expression on her Rhea's face.

Rhea looks outside at Sintarrio's mess before putting on a smile, "Yeah, the sooner we get this done the better." She then lifts the shuttle and closing the ramp before exiting the hanger bay. Once again they were outside in open land but another sound from her helmet makes Brutagus take controls at his side. "What now?"

"Rhea? It's me." A voice says, which is Zeki's rather than Chavai.

She smiles and sighs, "Zeki. Are you all okay?"

"We're fine. Chavai gave us back the shuttle unharmed and we're heading back to the Malal. Do you happen to have Tido on board?"

"Yeah." She says before looking back and down where she can see the drell's foot, "Listen, Zeki. I'm going to need your help on this. Difan can't get angry and do something stupid."

"It's not Difan that will be the problem. I'll try and convince Enti when we get back otherwise you're going to have a real problem."

"I won't let them touch him. Just get back while we do this exchange." Rhea orders before closing the channel. She then turns to Brutagus, "Have you got Chavai on the radar?"

"I have. Two shuttles with the same ID are approaching our position. As soon as you give them what they want, I'm going up." He says and gets a nod, "I would open a channel to them."

Rhea takes off her helmet and puts it on the floor. She opens the channel in order to communicate and waits for visuals of the same ships approaching them. Brutagus unlike Rhea isn't as nervous due to being a Spectre he's had to deal with situations like this. The group see that two ships of the same design are heading towards them though inside the Scythe asari are relaxed as they can finally unite with the rest of their people.

"This is Chavai, send us the schematics now." She says as Rhea loads them from her omni-tool to the hard-drive of shuttle so she can send them to her, "You know Rhea. I didn't set you up on Intai'sei."

"You were the only other one there, who else do I blame?"

"You forget what happened. Tylirria couldn't charge someone who didn't exist in public records and apparently there was no video archive of the incident."

"There wasn't?" Rhea asks curiously as she knew she didn't commit murder but felt she was being misrepresented.

Chavai can be heard laughing, "Because your helping me out, I'll throw you a bone. We didn't pin this on you and neither did the Emissary."

"Then who did?"

"Someone who had a lot to gain." She says as Rhea sends her the schematics. "Maybe we'll be fighting each other next time. See you later."

Rhea sighs and looks at Brutagus, "You don't believe I killed Tylirria do you?"

"I've already said. However if neither Krinal nor the Scythe are responsible that's leave two others. The Council may have used the murder as means to catching you quickly and then finding you not guilty of the charges but continue to interrogate you afterward. The other is the Shadow Broker but the angle on why would be unknown." Brutagus informs and is just as much in the dark.

Rhea smiles at the possibilities, "Well, it's done. Since then I've committed many felonies, I can't go back to my life."

"Do you regret it?" he asks wondering if that ever happened would she do what is doing now.

"No. My life was somewhat meaningless before, and since Krieg came into my life I've had a long journey." She answers fondly.

"But Krieg isn't here. He's somewhere we don't know."

This wasn't true as Sintarrio has informed her as she is about to do to him, "He's on Tuchanka. Sintarrio told me. But now I feel like trying to find him is meaningless. I don't know whether or not to abandon my search for him."

"Maybe Krieg will find you. INC stated to us that was Krieg's intention and he may have unfinished business that we don't know of." The turian informs.

"So what's our plan then?" she asks him.

"You're safe on the Malal, so is Garahie. Me and Yentha will continue our research now INC has decrypted everything. You'll be fine."

She nods in agreement and thinks to herself before asking the next question, "I hope so. You were inside one of those pods? How come you had a headache when we broke you out?"

Brutagus still has the headache but was too tried to understand what happened, "Well I was asleep in there but if it gave me and Garahie a headache who knows what Tido got after being in their longer. But Ecroy didn't feel a thing."

"Maybe it's because he's a krogan?" Rhea puts forward.

"No, when I was in there I felt drowsy when awake and when I was asleep it felt almost euphoric. It felt like my mind cleaning of something and images of things." He says before seeing Rhea looking at him with confusion. He smiles, "Maybe it's just me."

His trail is cut off as a channel open, "Rhea, it's me."

"Hey Difan. That was a close one wasn't it?"

"Yeah, but we've got other problems. Zeki just told me about Tido. My farther isn't going to be happy that you protecting him but I see that he may have some useful information. We are almost on the Malal. I'll keep him at bay."

"I know this is difficult but thanks, Difan." She says as Brutagus pilots the shuttle out of the atmosphere.

The Malal is in sights but that isn't the only thing that has entered the system with the dreadnaughts entourage of frigates. The frigates were surrounding a ship that was of similar design but certain features made the ship more unique as it was rusted in colour with a single symbol on the side. The symbol was a circle and orange in colour while inside was picture of a sword and rifle crossed together and onto what looked like a mask that All-Feather wore. The ship was hooked to the other frigates signalling that they weren't they by their own will. All-Feather comes up to the cockpit and sees the ship and looks at Rhea while pointing to the ship and then himself.

"What's his problem?" Rhea wonders.

Brutagus looks at the ship and recognises it, "Don't you know? That's a Wisp Ship and by the way this one is acting, it's his ship as well."

"Why are they toeing it?" Rhea wonders as the ship seems more captured than escorted.

"Are you serious?" Brutagus asks surprised, "You didn't know about the history of the quarians apart from the geth? The Wisps are not trusted by the Flotilla let alone a person like Enti. To them, their zealots and terrorists."

"But Enti's a pirate. Why would he care?" she asks and sees that Brutagus is careful of what he says.

"Not long after the Flotilla began wondering through space the Wisps were a small minority. They were treated however as second-class, even now but kept them because they were sufficient enough to build suits for the population. When they were done with them, they abandoned them and in response the Wisps left a bomb on three of there ships killing thousands. Rhea, they're dangerous." He reveals as All-Feather couldn't speak but his kin had an infamous reputation.


	37. Strained Relations

**Chapter XXXVII: Strained Relations**

**20/07/2160- The Malal, Typhon System, Phoenix Massing**

The Hanger Bay ramp opens as entering the quarian dreadnaught is the Scythe shuttle containing Rhea and her group as well as the shuttle they began their mission in. It hadn't gone as planned but they were happy to be back as the ramp shuts and oxygen fills the room before Rhea opens the ramp doors to their shuttle and directs the others as they are bringing down Tido who is on a stretcher that was found within. Garahie and Brutagus pull him down with INC accompanying them while Ecroy and All-Feather accompany Rhea to the other shuttle where Difan, Zeki and Yentha are exiting and happy to see each other and relieved no one was killed.

The debriefing is cut short however when coming down the elevator of the ship is Enti and an entourage of twelve armed quarians ready to detain anyone. When they exit they see two possible threats to their safety. The first was Tido who had betrayed them but exposure inside the pod for a week has left him delirious while the other was All-Feather as the small fleet had recently detained his peoples ship.

"Quickly! Detain that filthy vermin!" he shouts as a group of six are ready to walk towards the Wisp while he sends the others towards INC, Brutagus and Garahie who were tending to Tido. He immediately walks to the group consisting of Rhea, Difan, Yentha, Zeki and Ecory, "What is that thing doing here?" he shout pointing to All-Feather.

Difan is the first to talk, "Father, please calm down. He-"

"Calm Down! You bring back the person who killed my nephew and while you confirm his death a Wisp boards my ship and his brethren are next to mine!" he says with distain and pointing at All-Feather.

"Back off! Tido's mine. We need him to answer some questions." Rhea says in front of him.

"Really? I don't give a shit!" Enti shouts before All-Feather begins to speak and Rhea looks at Difan, "What's he saying?"

Difan understands him and translates, "He says…calm down."

"Is he serious? Fuck you!" he watches Difan translate and gets more frustrated when he hears his voice, "What's going on?"

"…He is obligated to be here under orders from…Grey-Groom." Difan looks at Rhea confused but questions by himself, "He says that Grey-Groom hired him."

"I will never take help from a Wisp of all people. We don't need them" Enti states before hearing sounds from Tido's direction and all attention is focused off All-Feather. Rhea and the others are first to run to him and listen to his words, "What's that prick saying?"

Rhea listens to the drell who is waking up slowly but weak, "Yero…trick…trick…alive."

Rhea stands straight and turns to Enti, "Hear that Yero? Trick…alive."

Brutagus looks over to Difan, "Hey, ask your friend if he knows anything about this." He says and Difan does though the answer isn't what they expect, "Well?"

"He said that wouldn't tell us until you give him some promises." Difan answers before looking at his father, "Father, listen to him." Enti is at first reluctant and frustrated enough while he nods and All-Feather speaks, "He says that first let his people go. Second, he wants his family on the ship."

"No." he immediately answers and shakes his head.

Difan listens and continues, "It's not…that we don't understand why you hate us but Grey-Groom-"

"Who the fuck is Grey-Groom!" he asks not understanding.

"Grey-Groom is Krieg." Rhea says before getting close a whispering, "Listen, Enti. All-Feather saved me Difan from danger and his people have come here in peace and want to work with us. At least listen to him."

"Okay, fine. But I don't like it and don't like you." he says pointing at towards All-Feather.

The quarian is informed then translated by Difan, "He thanks you. Release the ship and I will contact them to bring my wife and children, and my brother who can speak to you." Difan translates.

Enti sighs again and opens his omni-tool, "This is your Captain, release the Wisp Ship. We're bringing a few aboard." He then closes his omni-tool and turns to them while calling his troops back, "I'll be upstairs. Meet me Difan and Zeki in the briefing room. And I only want you, Brutagus and Yentha as well as that one there."

"Fine, but can the others go back to our quarters and help Tido?" she pleads knowing that he is being convinced easier and hopes he agrees.

Enti looks at the remaining members of her group which were Garahie and Ecroy and sighs, "Sure." He then walks towards the elevator and with his twelve soldiers following him he hopes he hasn't regretted his decision.

Garahie and Ecroy along with INC take Tido to another service elevator in hope that they won't catch any other quarian's attention as Tido isn't the most likable guy at this very time. As the two of them wait they look at each other concerned as they had both went through the same experience as the drell. The doors open to reveal their quarters as Ecroy pushes Tido along a few doors until he opens his own room and with Garahie's help lifts him onto his bed while INC continues to monitor his condition.

Garahie sits on the nearest chair, "What do you think? Me and Brutagus weren't in there more than day and you as krogan probably explains why you weren't affected. But him, who knows what's wrong with him."

"He's probably got a serve migraine. He doesn't know where he is right now." He says before walking to a desk and sitting on the chair to open a console of custom design, "I have to give Agon a report." He says before entering a password and waiting.

"Ecroy? Speak?" Agon voice says.

"Commander, I'm okay."

"Your chip's status was alarming. What happened with the mission?" the krogan asks hoping for some clarification.

Agon looks at Garahie and INC who are privy to the conversation, "My reconnaissance didn't go as planned and I was put in a box for a while along with Tido. Garahie and Brutagus joined us later."

"I see. Any casualties?"

"None from our side but we've seemed to have claimed a new ally. A Wisp and he knows Krieg." Ecroy reveals though is uncomfortable.

Agon continues in a more positive tone, "Then your ally should be useful, they have to us. I take it's the group we recommended?"

"It was." He answers to Garahie's confusion, "They had a guy infiltrate the pirates serving the Emissary. Have you managed to track Krieg?"

"Not since his visit. From intercepted reports he has been scouring the galaxy for something."Agon informs.

"He's he still searching?" he says before not getting an answer, "I'll take that as a yes. Ecroy, out." He says before turning to Garahie.

"What's going on, Ecroy?" the salarian asks as he scans the krogan, "What haven't you been telling us?"

"I've been updating my superior as I've already stated, and he has been updating me on their progress."

"I'm telling Rhea that you've met Krieg." He says before walking out of the room but is stopped by Ecroy's hand.

"You won't want to do that, Garahie." Ecroy insists.

"Why not?" the salarian wonders thinking of why he would say that.

Ecroy sighs before letting him go, "Rhea has a job to do here, with us. Krieg, he's on his own and dealing with something that I have only a vivid knowledge about. Even Agon is finding it hard to keep tabs on him."

Garahie leans against the opposite wall, "Okay, I won't say anything for now but if it leaks, I don't know anything."

"I need you to keep Rhea off my back until Agon can pinpoint him." Ecroy asks of him and he gets a silent nod from Garahie. He then turns to INC, "Can I trust you?"

"Answer: My programming was built to keep secrets about Krieg. Malfuction: My recording banks have failed." INC says and shows it can lie.

Enti is inside the Briefing Room with Difan and Zeki. Unlike the younger quarians he is pacing from one end of the window to another and his impatience is thinning by the minute. Difan is the most uncomfortable however due to him having to trust Rhea with Tido who has killed his cousin and his father who is acting more a loose cannon than ever and Zeki feels the same.

The two of them stand when the doors open and Rhea enters with Brutagus and Yentha while accompanying them is All-Feather and his brother. This quarian wore a mask similar to All-Feather as it had a single visor so he could see. His suit was well-tailored and made from white cloth those it was tattered while the straps were a black colour but most of his body was covered in small silver plating to protect him. Over this was a robe like Enti's only it was white with blue patterns and scriptures in his native language.

"That's him?" Enti's says as they each take a seat though Arlim sits closest and next to him are Brutagus and Yentha while Rhea sits next to Zeki. All-Feather stands by his brother's side.

"Enti, this is Arlim'Shtet. He is the All-Feather's brother." Rhea introduces him.

"My honour, Captain Malal. I know that this may seems strange but we come with servitude in mind for we owe it to Grey-Groom." He says in a language they can all understand.

"Whatever, I don't trust you!" Enti reminds him.

"Really, what a surprise. All-Feather is grateful that you have allowed us free and his mission has been tiresome and is deserving of rest." He states and looking to his brother.

"Not right now. Did this Grey-Groom send you to us and if so, why?" Difan asks with haste.

Arlim nods, "Grey-Groom saved our ship from a pirate raid when he paid us for transportation into the Terminus Systems. In return we offered our services and he requested that we find Blue-Bride but the means were a risk."

"How did you find me?" Rhea asks and curious of how they are involved.

Arlim continues, "Grey-Groom, Krieg, said that you couldn't be located via direct approach and informed us of the Fleet massing in the Terminus. All-Feather personally volunteered to infiltrate the fleet because he would be able to locate you easier."

"Do you know where Krieg is now?" she asks him wanting the information.

"We do not. He said that association with him was dangerous and he would contact us personally when the time came. He told me to inform you that he is well and currently on his own mission, but nothing else." he informs.

"I heard he was on Tuchanka?" Rhea says though only she and Brutagus knew that.

"I wouldn't know." Arlim says before turning back to Enti, "Blue-Bride is ours to command us and she is your ally. If you are willing to put differences aside we'll respect your rules if you respect ours."

"You want to propose something?" Enti wonders leaning back.

"Indeed. If you provide us with purified food from you ship and allow my family on-board we will improve your crew weapons and suits. All-Feather has even offered to be your bodyguard."

Enti looks at the Wisp behind the Cleric and is weary, "Is he any good?"

"He is. Very resourceful." Rhea says before Enti looks at Difan and he nods as well, "Captain, I'll take responsibility for all of them."

Enti knows that if he can't trust them he can trust Rhea, "But what about Tido, he has a lot to answer for."

All-Feather speaks and Arlim translates though Difan can understand, "All-Feather has information that will be interest to you…though you may not like it." Enti sighs and lets him translate, "He says that the drell that was captured was not responsible for the deaths of your snipers…He says another quarian was."

"Impossible! Who?" Difan says as there were twelve quarians among the corpses.

All-Feather speaks and Arlim continues, "He says that among the pirates he wasn't the only quarian. There was a male on his pilgrimage who was murdered by some turians and they threw him among the dead while one of them changed suit and put his over that quarian. He says that his name was Yero."

The group look to themselves confused and Enti immediately refutes the claim, "No, not my nephew! He wouldn't betray me!"

"I believe All-Feather. He also knows this was used as a trap for the krogan ally of yours and then your son and Blue-Bride." Arlim says.

Enti looks at everyone to get an idea of whether to trust them, "Does this mean that my nephew, my own flesh and blood is a traitor?"

Difan breaths heavily, "No, no." he gets up immediately and walks out in stress.

Enti turns to Zeki, "Keep him company, Zeki. I'll take it from here." He orders calmly and she obeys while he turns to Arlim, "Okay, if you keep your end of deal, we'll keep ours. But what about the numerous Cleric ships in terminus? This will gain too much attention."

Arlim puts his hands up, "I agree. Most of us are spread out anyway. The Captain intends to leave as soon as our business is done with you. He could only fulfil his part to Grey-Groom by bringing our families here." He says standing before shaking his hand and speaks to All-Feather and gets a nod, "All-Feather doesn't speak your language but he will protect you. Are you willing to expect at least fifteen people on board?"

"What type of people will they be?" Enti asks suspicious.

"Well, there is me and All-Feather, my wife and three children, our father, our sister and her husband and their two children and the other four include a weapon-smith, a Cleric for prayer our cousin and All-Feather's soon-to-be spouse." He informs.

Enti looks at All-Feather and chuckles sarcastically, "Congratulations."

"We won't integrate with you crew. We'll take the smallest big space possible and make-do there." Arlim ensures before being escorted out by All-Feather, Brutagus and Yentha leaving only Rhea and Enti in the room.

"Well, this makes things more interesting, doesn't it?" Enti says looking at her.

"Sorry, I don't know what's going on now." Rhea states while slumming on her chair.

"Your friend, Grey-Groom? Do you know where he is?" he looks at Rhea and sees the guilt on her face, "Listen Rhea, I get the feeling that your intention is distorted. You want to find him?" he says and stands but as he walks towards the door and he puts his hands on the table, "Don't. Unfortunately you are the leader of these people, like me and my crew. Ecroy, Tido, Garahie, and even Zeki and my son look to you to lead them. Brutagus and Yentha command themselves because that's why they were chosen to be Spectres. Your friend is the same as these people because he hasn't chosen to find you." He reveals before leaving and Rhea sits there to ponder on his word.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker has listen to the tale of Aite and how it went from a well-prepared mission to a disaster. Ecroy and Zeki remember it just as well but Ecroy was the one who like Tido lasted a week within one of the pods. The krogan takes the glass of Ryncol and gulps it down before burping and looking at Rhea. At this time in her story Ecroy was hiding some things from her though since they are still working together this day they have seemed to get past it.

"So you knew where Krieg was and you kept it from Rhea?" Joker asks Ecroy surprised at this prior knowledge.

"No, we didn't know exactly where he was. We found out a few weeks after Krinal that he is on Tuchanka but that was a dead end." Ecroy replies before taking another sip of his drink.

Joker turns to Rhea for a response, "You said that he had been to Shanxi? Rhea?"

Rhea looks around like she had just woken up and breaths heavily, "Oh, sorry. My mind was somewhere else. Shanxi would come up later but we were focused on other things. I took Enti's advice and didn't look for Krieg."

"Why not? He was you friend wasn't he?" Joker asks.

She sighs in response, "I wasn't going to find him. Even Ecroy would agree that he didn't want to be found."

The human turns back to Ecroy, "What was he looking for?"

The krogan shrugs, "I was never completely sure. He found us before we came to the Citadel and was in need of some equipment. He didn't ask for weapons, just a set of armour from our stash and some food. After that we dropped him off and from there he just disappeared."

"Where did you drop him off?"

"Only Agon and Tovoh knew. They kept the information very private but apparently Krieg was looking for prothean sites near homeworlds. He already knew enough about human history of FTL travel but wanted to find a connection between all races." He reveals before taking yet another sip.

Joker thinks back to the recent history of his species and the infamous moon, "Yeah, our relay used to be a moon."

"Yeah, he was trying to find a reason why the Charon Relay was encased in ice while others weren't but we never found out why he was looking into it." Rhea says before being ready to continue.

"So where did you go after Aite?"

"Tido was innocent but Enti still didn't trust him but All-Feather saying that Yero betrayed us all affected the morale of the ship. The Wisps kept to themselves and didn't cause trouble while Enti was still adamant on finding Chek. Difan and Zeki went from time to time to follow some leads but they were all dead ends while Ecroy, Garahie and myself continued searching old Scythe bases as well as intercepting some of the pirate gangs loyal to Krinal."…

**14/01/2161- Turian Pirate Vessel, Paz System, Vallhallan Threshold**

Rhea is crouched behind some crates wearing her quarian-made attire while next to her is Garahie who is also in full armour. The pair was locked down inside a ship and the vessel's inhabitants were hostile. The turians wore a variety of different armours and had no official affiliation to a mercenary company or gang but they had the firepower to be feared as down the narrow hallway were nine of them.

The ships interior was small and dark but it was also not very well-kept as the hallway's floor was covered in smoke from the piping underneath and the only visuals available were the corpses of turians who had fallen to the pair.

"Where's Tido? He and Ecroy should have had the charges ready by now?" Garahie comments while firing his submachine gun towards two turians and succeeds in killing them.

Rhea also takes down one as she responds, "We need to get to the Captain before we leave. We need information on Krinal's plans!"

"But all of the ships we've intercepted have self-destructed before we could get hallway through."

"I know. That's why I have INC disabling it." She confirms before pulling out a grenade and throwing it towards the remaining six turians. The explosion that follows knocks them down quickly enough for them to push forward. "And INC must be having success. The Captain isn't far from here, just one more hallway."

"Great." the salarian responds sarcastically. He leads the asari down the hallway and continues, "So who is this guy and why is he so important?"

"His name is Dexillius. According to All-Feather, he was even higher up the food-chain than the likes of Jatev and Tenias. We're dealing with a big boss." She reveals before they enter the next hallway and the door to the bridge opens, "Get Ready!"

The two point their weapons but are surprised when the pair are flung back with biotics and exiting the bridge was the turian they were after. Dexillius was a biotic turian and wasn't armed with any kind of firearm. Instead he wore silver armour with black underlayings while his face revealed an old a withered member of his species. In fact, he was so old that his eyes were diluted and had very poor vision. His biotics were the key to his survival as his power act as his eyes as he sensed Rhea standing and ready to channel her energy.

The asari attempts a biotic warp but the turian proves strangely more powerful as he holds his left hand out and rotates it from palms down to palms up and with this stroke Rhea is flipped and lands head-first on the ground. She gets up quickly however to avoid another attempt at control and then lunges herself towards him. A single kick to the stomach brings him to his knees and the turian takes a deep-breath while Garahie throws Rhea weapon to her and she catches it while aiming for the turian's head.

Dexillius smiles before speaking, "Waiting…you have been…waiting. Lucky… you're lucky. You have…finally come to free me."

Garahie lowers his weapon confused, "Free him? He's nuts? This can't be him?"

"All-Feather said he was a biotic." Rhea says before looking at the armour of the turian more closely, "You're an Acolyte, not a pirate?"

"Indeed… Need shelter… Emissary is doomed." He states while is body begins to sway from side-to-side.

"Emissary? How much do you know?" Rhea asks while kneeling and looking at him face-to-face.

He looks towards Rhea and smiles, "I know too much." and collapses in front of them.

The pair look at each other confused as Garahie puts his weapon on his back and scratches his chin, "Well, that wasn't hard. Is he dead?"

Rhea checks his vital signs, "No, just unconscious. We have to take him back?"

Garahie facial expression is enough of a response, "What? Look at him?"

"He knows something. I want to know what it is." She states before looking back from where they came to see both Ecroy and Tido clad in full armour and armed, "Where have you two been?"

"Setting the charges, INC's waiting at the shuttle." Tido answers while looking Dexillius' body, "Is that him? He's sleeping?"

"Ecroy, help me get him back on board." She says and he crouches with preparation to lift him, "Where is the Malal?"

"The next cluster. They're ready to move when you are?" Tido states and waits for the final order from the asari.

"Good. Let's blow this ship and get out of here." She says as Tido, Garahie and herself help pick the turian up and Ecroy lifts him with both hands as the group are ready to depart the pirate ship.

On the Malal, Enti is sitting on his chair at the head of the table and standing next to him is All-Feather who has pledged service to him. Despite being suspicious at first the quarian Captain has become used to his presence but his mind is on other matters. Within the briefing room were both Difan and Zeki who had returned yet again from another dead-end trip in order to search for Chek. Entering the room to join them was All-Feather's brother Arlim who has also taken residence upon the ship and acts as the Wisps de facto leader because of his ability to speak a language they are familiar with.

The Wisp looks at the three and then his brother who shrugs, "Why so down?"

Difan looks up, "We got nothing from that tip, just another dead end."

"I see." He replies before sitting on a chair, "There are always other methods to finding people."

"I don't want to work with criminals." Difan says and knowing what he was going to say.

"Well it worked for us." He says referring to All-Feather finding Rhea by infiltrating the enemy, "Enti, you called me up here for a reason, yes?"

Enti nods, "I did. I got a call from the Migrant Fleet."

"Don't tell me, they want us off the ship?" he questions and knows the Fleet's view of them.

Enti shakes his head to the Wisp's surprise, "No actually, and I'm in charge so they don't get a say. We need to go to Omega a soon as possible. They have a request of you."

Arlim leans forward on the table, "Sorry for being cautious but it sounds like a trap."

"It isn't. They said this is not a favour they ask but you alone would understand the meaning of a 'transition'." Enti says with confusion.

He leans back and knows the coded language, "Now it's clear. We must go as soon as possible then."

"What's going on?" Zeki asks confused at the conversation.

Arlim stands, "Sorry, but this doesn't concern you. We must do our duty." and leaves abruptly.

Zeki turns to Difan, "Do you know what they were talking about?" and her husband responds by shaking his head. She is then distracted by her omni-tool and opens it, "Rhea?"

"Hey, Zeki. We blew up the ship and got ourselves an Acolyte as a bonus. He may have useful information on Yero." Rhea informs.

Zeki looks at the others and sees from their body movements that they are hoping for success. "Okay, are you back because the Malal needs to make a stop at Omega?"

"We are. Omega, why go there?" she wonders.

"I don't know but I'll come down anyway?" she says before the channels switches off. "Maybe they've had better luck?"

In the lower levels of the quarian ship, the turian Dexillius is restrained to a chair that was once used to interrogate batarian prisoners. The chair also boasts a shield to protect those who question him from his biotics which have proven to be powerful despite his collapse. A tube was currently feeding him a paste that was suitable as he was of the same dextro-protein group as quarians.

The room itself was like any other room on the ship with murky walls and a humming sound to indicate that the machinery was still working. Opposite him was one-way mirror where Rhea stands behind with Tido who again is smoking a cigarette but passes it to Rhea so she can inhale as well. The drell looks at a Dexillius and can't help but feel some familiarity about him when leaning in.

Rhea notices and leans against the glass, "Is something wrong?"

Tido continues looking at the turian, "I didn't get a good look at him on the ship but I seem to know who this Dexillius is." He says before glancing at Rhea as she wants all the information possible, "I remember being captured once and put in a compound within the Viper Nebula about fifteen years ago. I didn't stay there long because someone broke out and unlocked the failsafe so all prisoners were set loose. The Batarian Guard took most of the prisoners out but I took my time to escape."

"You think he was the cause?" Rhea suggests though sceptical.

"He looks a lot older but I remember a turian being there who apparently was a Spectre. It could be him."

Rhea takes a better look at the turian and his armour which suggest something else, "But he's an Acolyte?"

"Well think about it, most of Krinal's personal are high in the fucking food-chain. Maybe it has a few Spectres on its side?" Tido puts forward as a possibility.

"I'll talk to Brutagus about it." She says before looking back but in the corner of her eye she still sees the drell looking at her, "Is there anything else?"

Tido smiles as he finishes the cigarette and stamps it out, "I was just wondering if you're… still on for tonight. We've had a busy time lately." He says making her smiles, "That's a yes then?" she turns her face away but he laughs before leaving, "I'll see you later." Rhea smiles and glimpses at him as he walks past and while he exits, All-Feather Zeki and Difan enter to get a good look at their new captive.

"This is the Acolyte? He looks half-way to the grave." Difan remarks as he turns to All-Feather and says something to him, "All-Feather says he recognises him from when he joined. I say let's get him to talk."

"I agree, he may know something about Yero." Zeki says and Rhea nods as she leads the trio into the room.

When the doors open Rhea presses a button to stop the feeding tube and presses the button next to it to make a small sound in order for the turian to wake up but slowly and not in a panic. Dexillius however was already awake and lifts his head to see all four of them behind the shield and smiles at them but focuses on Rhea.

"You are persistent, Blue-Bride. You have been destroying ships for the past half-year yet I must be your first real captive." He says in an elitist tone, "Tell me, asari. Is it the Grey-Groom you seek because I know as much as the Emissary itself."

"What happened on Tuchanka?" Rhea asks knowing Krieg was there.

Dexillius smiles, "The facility was destroyed as predicted and nothing came of the search. Krieg already jumped worlds by then."

"Do you know where he is now?" Rhea inquires hoping for something.

"No, neither does Krinal. Am I allowed a question?" he asks looking at Rhea who nods and allows him to continue, "I noticed the Wisp in front of me, is it who I think it is?" All-Feather nods, "I see, clever. Krieg is more resourceful than I thought despite him being on crusade of his own agenda."

"You know what he's doing? Tell me, I need to know." Rhea says while walking closer towards the protective shield.

Dexillius smiles, "Then I will share it. Krieg has been visiting many species home systems, Krinal noticed the pattern immediately. He intends to find the general link between them."

"General link, that's simple. It was the Mass Relay's the Protheans built." Difan says as it was common knowledge.

The turian laughs at this with the indication he knows more, "You are naïve. Anyway, I'm actually glad to be here as the pirates were beginning to get on my nerves. Besides, we have a war to deal with."

Rhea smiles as the war has been proxy at most but significant, "I know. The Duchess seems to be having the upper hand."

"So she thinks but she will not face off against the Fleet and its flagship." He states referring to the Zenith, "I'll be frank, you and Krieg should stay out of this conflict because the Duchess will try and pull you in. Krinal wants Krieg alive and the Duchess wants him dead."

Rhea thinks to herself why that is so as it doesn't make sense, "Why?"

"You were lucky on Aite that she didn't order your death but she will send assassins when the opportunity arises. Sintarrio was there to retrieve technology stolen from us though the data you exchanged with her forces will still lead her nowhere." He says referring to the twisted abominations of asari within the base, "Horrible things weren't they? No life is worth that."

"What were they trying to do?" she asks hoping for clarification than Sintarrio gave her.

"The K-Thousand project was headed by the Duchess' daughter, known to you as Doctor Thenas. However Krinal was pulling the strings and caught on to the asari's 'experiments' or retrieval of possible offspring." He reveals.

"What's so intriguing about his 'stuff'?" she asks as Krieg confessed to what happened but even he didn't know why it occurred.

"His 'stuff' happens to be useless unless used properly and the mutations-"

"Mutations?"

Dexilius reveals more after taking a huge breath, "The development of his appearance, his mind, his behaviour. Krinal wants to understand it and why is it occurring. You know Krinal intends to let him live, why fight us?"

"Krieg wants his freedom." She states and believes it more than anything.

"Is that why he's not with you now?" Dexillius puts forwards though she sees it as a trick.

It does however touch a nerve, "Forget this. He's not cooperating."

Zeki quickly grabs her arm to prevent her from leaving, "Wait, do you know a Yero?"

"Yero. An old friend." He says before laughing again for an unknown reason, "But because you asked, I must be on the Malal." He says before his armour chest-plate begins to emit a hologram that breaks through the shield. The hologram is of the Emissary itself.

"And we are most grateful for your hospitality." The machine states from Korlus.

"Shit!" Rhea shouts as she and the others begin surrounding the hologram.

The image is live but still as it looks at the asari with interest. "Rhea T'Anya, it has been a long time. The last time I saw you, you were about to die. And these must be the quarians you're sheltered with, interesting."

"You've been listening all this time?" She asks cautiously.

"Of course. Dexillius played his part now I will play the leading role. Krieg is mine; don't pursue him for your own sake." It threatens though the small stature of the machine isn't as imposing as it once was.

"Krieg goes where wants." she says like she said to the turian beforehand.

"Indeed. You have a chance to walk away, from all this war. I needed more time to study him but I guess attempting to retrieve him before completion was a mistake after all." It admits thoughthe lack of elaboration confuses them.

"Completion?" Rhea wonders though she is more concerned with the fact she is talking to Krinal properly for the first time.

Krinal sighs, "Enough. I am giving you an ultimatum. Discontinue your pursuit of Krieg and I'll make sure the Scythe does not find you."

"Since when do you want to be my ally?" Rhea says sceptically.

"I assure you this is not an alliance. The Scythe must be crushed, it is beyond my control. Krieg will one day find you but for now he is safer on his own. I have been protecting him all this time and you failed to realise it." It states though in a frustrating tone.

Zeki looks at Rhea, "What's it talking about?"

"Quarian, the Scythe needed Krieg for a specific purpose and only he knows what it is. I was the one who arranged his retrieval but I never knew how volatile the equipment was, I was too early. Rhea, when he comes to you I will give you my location so that we may discuss the future but for now a word of warning. You plan on going to Omega; there is someone there ready to kill you."

Rhea shrugs, "Why should I trust you?"

"Because I am all you have. Other organisations are begin to realise you as method to finding Krieg, one in particular has taken keen interest in him. Deal with the agent and I'll make sure they won't find you again." Krinal orders before disappearing.

"Great now we are dealing with an enemy." Difan states before Rhea leads them out of the room, "You really believe it don't you?"

Rhea breaths heavily and stands tall, "I don't know what to believe, but for now I think it's best to keep this to ourselves. Got it?" she asks getting a nod in return.

Krinal didn't send this message inside its lair but from Outpost K-3 and the place was busier than ever. The Tri-drones were acting as additional carries for many pods were being switched around and the collectives of regular drones were lifting pods and places them in front of the predecessor like a vending machine. The rows of pods were being tended to by the drones but as it watches from the balcony, Unit-3 climbs from a few floors above and meets with the Emissary.

"Emissary, the addition two-hundred pods have been tended to and placed with another hundred ready to go." Unit-3 states while seeing that the Emissary is joined by an entourage of Delphine, Yox and Filestra.

"Excellent." It responds before turning to the trio, "Filestra, you have task. Go to Omega and watch Rhea T'Anya. Make sure she doesn't get killed."

"Isn't she the enemy?" Delphine asks with anger for her.

Krinal answers, "Not for now. Filestra, a small Scythe contingent has been intercepting the Malal audio files. Sintarrio has intercepted a message stating that a few of the asari working in Aria's employ are actually Scythe agents, silence them."

"Yes, Emissary." Filestra states before seeing Delphine eyeing her in disgust.

"What about us? Don't we get some action after months in this place?" she says impatiently.

Krinal laughs though coughs when it finally gets to the answer, "No. you must stay here." and begins to walk away with Unit-3 and Filestra."

Yox leans on the balcony and continues his guard with Delphine sighing in distress, "That's what you get for slacking."

"It threatened to kill Liz." She says though seemed to have been unmoved by the threat.

Yox stands firm and more authoritative, "Listen! You've done nothing but moan since we got here, I'm sick of it! Krinal gave you a chance just like me, be more appreciative of it." And walks off with rage building inside of him as staying inside a tower has gotten to him too.

Back aboard the Malal, Ecroy and Garahie are within the krogan's quarters. The salarian has kept the secret about Ecroy already meeting Krieg but is still on edge because of it. Ecroy however is doing his duty but the krogan at this time has other concerns as he moves his left arm in forward rotations with a face of annoyance like he has cramp. Garahie sees this and can't understand why.

"Is your arm okay?" the salarian asks concerned, "You have been like this for a while."

"I'm fine, just feeling stiff that's all" he says before looking at his console as he has just gotten a message from Agon who is still tracking the grey alien. He opens the file and looks at images from urban world full of salarians and sees a blurred image in the distance of what looks like a media reporting as a human women stands in front of a crime scene. "Krieg was on Sur'Kesh a while ago. I wonder what he's doing?"

"Well you said he was going to homeworlds. My people's world must mean he's reaching the end?" Garahie states, "Do you think we'll ever see him?"

"I think so." He says before turning around, "Does Rhea suspect anything?"

"Nope. Salarians are good liars and I think that see expects me not knowing anything anyway." He looks at the message and leans back, "Seems Agon wants to meet me on Omega when we get there. How does he know we're going?"

"I told him. He doesn't say what it's about but nevertheless I need to meet him in Afterlife." Ecroy says before turning around, "Fancy meeting my superior again. Act as a lookout?"

"Why me?" Garahie states, "Wont he be protected?"

"It's in the private section of the club but you don't know who is in there. Agon killed a Bloodpack leader a while back and if word gets on the station he'll be in danger." Ecroy states before flexing his arm again.

"Sure, I'll help." Garahie says but hesitates to finish, "Thanks for trusting me."

Ecroy sighs, "Lord Tovoh gave me instruction to have only one of this group to know of my business. I picked you because you are the least connected to the others. Rhea is too focused on both Krieg and Krinal to be trusted; Zeki is her best friend and wouldn't betray her, same with Difan. INC is machine but Krieg must have created certain programmes to avoid it divulging information, and Tido, well Tido can't be completely trusted anyway." He says while not knowing that on the other side of the wall is the hallway with Tido leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette while pulling something out of his ear hole. It was listening device and he now knows more than he should as he smiles puts it in side he pouch on his belt.

On the Bridge of the Malal, Enti sits in the captain's chair and gazes at the stars while sitting next to him is his son. The two have grown closer since the apparent disappearance of Chek and the betrayal of Yero. Zeki sits in the other chair and is shown to have been accepted as one of the Enti's family as it is normally reserved for his kin but since they've boarded Zeki has been a daughter to him.

Also on the bridge were Rhea and INC who were on the bottom level and observing the quarians as they prepare the ship to enter a Mass Relay which will take them to the Omega Nebula. The asari is in a state of constant confusion over what Krinal has offered and doesn't know whether to trust the enemy she has been running from for four years since Krieg saved her. She feels that taking Krinal's offer would betray Krieg but wasn't there and she has since only made finding him a secondary goal.

Rhea looks at her machine companion, "When we get there, I need you to find this assassin. Hack into ever database you can."

"Affirmative: Omega's technical defence are not as advanced as the Citadel's." INC remarks.

"Good, if my information is right then we'll find out who Krieg has annoyed. Enti and Arlim have business and All-Feather, Zeki and Difan are going too. That will give us enough time to deal with this." She says before looking up to the captain, "I have business on Omega, but I need to get on there quietly."

Enti looks down, "Fine, I'll transport some crates so you can get in."

"Question: What equipment will you need?"

"My stuff will be fine." Rhea answers before turning back to Enti, "Do you know what this meeting is about?"

Enti shrugs, "I don't know but it seemed urgent enough for me to bring Arlim." He turns to Difan, "Son, despite them wanting to meet Arlim, I still don't trust the Flotilla. Be prepared."

"I will, father." Difan says and after looking at Zeki who doesn't agree with his father's mistrust of the Migrant Fleet. "The prisoner hasn't said anything about Yero, yet."

"Then let's hope he does eventually." Enti says befre standing, "Pilot, ready the Malal for the Relay jump." He says as the quarians below prepare and the pilot ready's to sling the giant ship into a faster than light experience.

Krinal is back inside its lair on Krolus though the experiments it did on the clones of Krieg have since stopped and the room is now once again empty with the exception of its chair. He is not alone however it faces a hologram of Sovereign and Reaper continues to keep watch over its subordinate and their operation. Next the hologram is map of the galaxy with focus upon the Terminus boarder with the Attican Traverse which is where much of the war is taking place, far from the Eagle Nebula.

"Nazara, the Scythe believes they have the upper hand and many of the pirates are their focus while we can focus on Krieg." Its states and revealing a hidden motive behind the recruitment of the fleet.

"This plan is succeeding; we draw close to the creature with each solar day. Did T'Anya take the bait you placed for her?"

"It's up to her though the bait is real enough, I've sent an agent to keep her safe while a special team Acolytes begin the operation. They will arrive shortly." Krinal says before hearing the elevator moving, "They are on their way now." And as he turns the image of the Reaper disappears.

Walking out of the elevator are four Acolytes who Krinal considers his finest. The first is a batraian called Jotan who acted as a messenger when Krinal was assembling the fleet together. He wears silver armour and black underlaying like all acolytes but without upper arm layers while his face is covered with a four eyed visor and carries a custom assault rifle on his back.

Next to him is a hanar though despite the species being slow this member of the species covered in a silver body casing and is tentacles were covered in a flexible black fibre and on the ends were small rounded stumps to keep balance. The next was elcor and like his hanar counterpart looked slow but the cybernetics on his forearms and feet as well as a heavily armour shell on its back and a face-mask made the slow creature more rapid in movement. The final member was actually Bylok in regular volus attire and whom both Rhea and Krieg have encountered indirectly but the volus still remembers the grey alien is responsible for his dead wife, the Duchess' daughter.

Krinal stands, "Your service is needed. Each of you has served me greatly during these past few years. Jotan, you have been crucial in enlisting the pirates to our cause. Bylok, you manipulation of the stock market has given me endless amounts of income. Shanol, you have shown the competency of the Elcor and Aqualas you have done the same for your race. But now your service is needed in finding the most important person to me."

Jotan speaks, "We are honoured, Emissary. Who do you seek?"

Krinal brings up an image of an unknown facility on a faraway world, "A prisoner has been captured and shipped to this place. You are releasing them. I cannot have failure."

Aqualas speaks in an almost monotone voice, "This one is curious of why the Emissary asks that we release and not kill."

"Unexpected Agreement: Our missions are based on destruction, not espionage and retrieval." Shanol says indicating some rivalry with the hanar.

Krinal nods, "I understand but one of you has been affected greatly by this prisoner and they know who they are. Bylok, despite what happened; Krieg must be released and kept alive."

Bylok sighs as his hatred for Krieg is great but knows that his duty comes first, "I understand, Emissary. But I must ask for a request in return?" the other look at him with curiosity and surprise as they never request from the Emissary unless there is bargain to be made. "Krieg is known through the underworld as the Grey-Groom and he killed my wife in cold blood. I ask that while the three of them attempt to release the alien, I may kill his wife on Omega."

Krinal sighs and knows that it has made a temporal alliance with Rhea as the machine looks at the galaxy map and sees from the signal Dexillius is giving that they are near Omega, "So be it. Go to Omega and gain your revenge."

Bylok bows in gratitude, "Thank you, Emissary. I will not disappoint you." and leaves immediately.

"No, you will not." Krinal says though in disgusted tone of voice.


	38. The Past Echoes before Us

**Chapter XXXVIII: The Past Echoes before Us**

**16/01/2161- Omega, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

The Malal is drawing closer to the space station though such a ship cannot dock at this location. In the dreadnaughts place is a quarian shuttle which only has the task of flying through the asteroids that surround the station. The location in which they have been permitted is not far from where Aria centres herself though unlike huge ships this shuttle is guaranteed a place within the air-locked hanger bays on the same level. The hanger opens and allows the transport to enter and land within the empty space and as the ramp on the left side opens, the party exits.

The first to come out is Arlim whose business lay here while exiting after is Enti along with All-Feather, Difan and Zeki. They stop as they are expecting company and when they exit the hanger they end up inside a small foyer where the queen herself stands before them. Aria is expecting the group and she is not alone as three bodyguards accompany her, a salarian and two batarians.

"Enti, I never thought I'd see you again?" she says knowing the quarian.

Enti steps forward and isn't afraid of Aria, "It's not my business I'm here for, Aria. Arlim here needs to meet a delegation from the Flotilla."

"I know. They sent a message requesting extra protection. You'll find them in the Gozu District, they've been there for two days." She informs.

"Good, I want to bring a contingent of my men aboard as well. I don't fancy getting in a fight." Enti says though despite is lack of influence still commands respect.

"As long as you don't pull the trigger first, I'll be happy." She says before changing the subject, "I believe you also have a 'package' for me?"

"Yes, we'll bring it to you personally." He says before turning around and heading back to his ship.

In afterlife itself, Filestra has already arrived and she is sipping a drink while sitting down at a table by herself. She dons once again her silver armour while having only a pistol and sniper rifle as her protection. Due to her intimating appearance she doesn't get any grief from customers despite there being some humans within the premises. The turian has been waiting patiently for a few hours and from her information she knows how Rhea is planning to get onto the station.

Her concentration focuses when Aria enters the place with her bodyguards as the two batarians push through a crate on a hovering platform. She leads the two into the room that nears the stairs that would lead to her balcony and when the doors open the salarian keeps watch.

"Get it open." She orders and the pair obeys.

They enter a code and the top opens to reveal INC exiting and immediately catching them off-guard. The machine generates blue-men to hold all three of them back while Rhea herself climbs out the crate wearing her blue colossus armour minus the hood she would wear.

"Let them go, INC." she orders and INC obeys, "Sorry about that, I couldn't take the risk."

Aria brushes herself off and is surprised with the other asari's shrewdness, "You've changed."

"I know. You know why I'm here?" she asks.

Aria nods and takes a stool, "I got the message from an unknown tipster. Care to fill me in?"

"That's the person who heads that giant fleet and who happens to be a real pain in the ass." She says while taking her belt out and putting it one with all the accessories.

"An enemy? Or an ally?" Aria wonders.

"Both for now." She answers before approaching her, "I need to find someone? A human arrived on Omega and is set on killing me. I want to beat him at his own game."

The pirate queen smiles, "You have changed. I know who you're talking about, he's been asking about someone called Blue-Bride. Those robberies won't leave you alone, will they?" she turns to her bodyguards, "Leave us." They obey and walk out while guarding the door afterwards, "I don't know the human's name but he is well resourced, two Bloodpack died in one of the slums by his hand. He's set up base in an apartment not far from here but my guys tell me he has set up traps for you."

"Upload the location to my friend here. Is there any other news I should know about?"

Aria smiles, "You mean your grey friend? I haven't seen him but I have seen Brutagus a few times. You list of allies has grown. Is it true that Tido is with you?"

Rhea looks away and knows that its media coverage that has spread the rumour, "What of it?"

"Well we had a visit awhile back from a guy named Norim, offered us a lot of money for his head." She informs and reveals how desperate the drell gangster is.

"Norim works for my ally too, don't trust him." Rhea states for both their benefits.

"I didn't. I sent him packing but this business with this fleet gets me worried. You've taken some out but not all of them." She says referring to the fleet.

"I can't take on a few hundred pirate ships at once." She rebuts knowing that it would be suicide.

"True, but I'm warning you now. We've been having problems here with certain people looking for you and you friend. Keep you hood on at all times because they'll follow you otherwise." Aria watches the asari leave along with INC and smiles in irony at the last time she saw her.

Tido himself has sneaked onto Omega when he found out that Ecroy intends to have a meeting with Agon that only Garahie knows of it. The drell was walking through the market with his helmet on and dons his yellow armour again as he follows both the salarian and the krogan though the crowds. The pair are heading towards the private area of the Aria's club and outside is another of Aria guards. Tido watches from a distance as hears Ecroy utter the password and both of them are allowed entry.

Inside the two are entering the complex and the krogan looks around to see if his superior has arrived. Agon was sitting at a table in the corner and his appearance less conspicuous than that of his last visit as he dons regular civilian attire though he is armed with a pistol. He nods when he sees Ecroy from across the central dance floor and the subordinate turns to Garahie.

"Okay, Agon is over there. Go and get a drink while I talk to Agon. I need you to keep lookout as much as you can. Rhea's on the station if she hears about this I'm in the shit, got it?" Garahie nods and awaits a response, "Good, see you later."

While Ecroy walks across the room Garahie heads to the bar and does his best to not look suspicious. The two of them believe they are safe but are far from it as Tido has managed to gain entry as well though the drell knows better than to go through the front entrance. He gains an entrance via a few shafts that only a child would have found and reflects the drell's life on Omega as a child as he can see the pair of krogan from a vent in front of him. Tido presses a few buttons on the side of his helmet to gain a hearing of the conversation.

"Sorry for being late. I had to wait for the others to leave." Ecroy says taking a sip of the drink already on the table.

Agon nods, "I understand. How has your assignment been going so far?"

Ecroy sighs before speaking, "Well, Rhea has made searching for Krieg a second priority for now. We've been raiding some of the Emissary's ships in search of people to interrogate."

"Any luck? I hear the ships self-destruct or you destroy them?" Agon says also hearing rumours about exploding pirate ships.

"They do. We've just captured an Acolyte called Dexillius though he doesn't seem to be talking. Why am I hear, Agon? It wouldn't be important otherwise?" Ecroy asks knowing the truth of this meeting.

"We had a transmission from Brutagus and Yentha about their search. We've found something interesting. Krieg visit to Tuchanka last year is more interesting in content than we initially thought." Agon reveals and more about Krieg recent exploits.

"Why is that? Tuchanka is a pit of vermin nowadays… unless?"

Agon knows where the conversation is going, "Yes, he went a visited the Veteran. We've tried to get in touch with him but he seems to be ignoring us?"

"The Veteran has never been a straight-talker, he always spoke bullshit for those who visited him."

"Yes. But he had more knowledge of the Scythe than anyone. He's over two-thousand years old and that old for a krogan. The Scythe is preoccupied with the Emissary while the Emissary looks for Krieg. And if Krieg has visited the Veteran then we need to check his safety." Agon states but in a more authoritative tone.

"You want me to abandon Rhea and look for him?" the krogan wonders.

Agon takes another sip of his drink, "No, Brutagus and Yentha offered to find him. Most krogan on the planet treat spectres with some respect and locals don't know of him. But the Veteran is vital to our survival. We intend to transport him home."

"What am I going to tell Rhea?" Ecroy asks as only Garahie is privy to the conversation that he knows of.

"Tell her that Brutagus and Yentha are stuck on the planet and make it a rescue mission. We can't fail. Tovoh and the High Lords demand his safety. Not only that, if he has information-"

"I won't fail, Agon. I need to tell you something as well." Ecroy say though is nervous.

Agon is the opposite and more open, "Please, tell me. Is it about Rhea?" Agon looks at Ecroy's face which answers his question "How has she changed? Did Krieg teach her well?"

"He did. She's a skilled combatant and confident compared to what you told us but without Krieg she's became, something else. She seems to unite people in a way Krieg could never do. I think by the time they finally reunite they'll realise how different they actually are." Ecroy hesitates the next sentence, "I don't know if this is a good thing? You've heard the names for them?"

Agon responds by nodding, "Blue-Bride and Grey-Groom, yes. Ecroy, when I was here when Krieg first appeared he had a strong desire for Rhea. He didn't have a plan, he didn't have any direction whatsoever but he was determined to find her. The Emissary is their enemy though its sudden appearance is unnerving but it happened when Krieg appeared. You need to find out the connection between all of this."

"I will. So long, Agon." Ecroy says leaving the table and above Tido is leaving for another location.

Enti, Difan, Zeki, Arlim and All-Feather are within the Gozu District of Omega, which would one day be a ground for a massive plague that kills most aliens with notable exceptions. The quarians were also escorted by a group of eight bodyguards, each with their own personal weapons ready to take down anyone who confronts them. Despite the weak stature compared to most alien species, Enti's reputation is known throughout the Terminus and even within the centre of crime as the aliens merely gaze and moving out of the way for the quarian pirate and his family.

The group walk up a flight of steps that lead to a rented apartment and see that another quarian stands on guard. This quarian however was of the Migrant Fleet as his clothing was basic and worn unlike the more extravagant pirates. The guard nods when they approach and presses in a code on the keypad to open the door.

When they enter the group are met with quarian marines though they are the same number as Enti's group, who raise their weapons in response. Enti signals them to lower their weapons however as he knows better than to start trouble and so do they as the superiors of this troop stand up from the table across the apartment. The two quarians were male and both would have great futures within the quarian society as these were Han'Gerrel and Rael'Zorah.

Han'Gerrel, wearing a white and black enviro-suit approaches, "Enti'Malal, I never I'd see someone like you again."

"You know me, Han? I prefer annoying people who annoy me more. Rael, congratulations are in order I hear?" Enti says looking at the black and blue suited quarian and referring to his family as this is the year his daughter is born.

"Thank you. Please, take a seat." He says and Enti and Arlim do while Rael gives Zeki a hug, "Zeki, it is good to see you again…and Difan."

"Are these the Wisps who travel with you?" Han asks looking at the brothers.

"Yes, this is Arlim and his brother…we call him All-Feather. You can see why." Enti says jokingly.

"I haven't seen a wisp in long time. They seem very stiff?" Rael says while sitting down.

Arlim speaks though for his brother also, "We are suspicious of you and you understand why. I'll be blunt, we don't have a ship. We are currently staying on the Malal due to pledging service to both Enti and Rhea T'Anya. We cannot take a child from you."

"Child? Is that what we're here for? Who's child?" Zeki wonders as she hears a noise coming from the other room. When she enters she sees two quarians she knows as they were with her on the Xun-Xun. It was Droh and Xera, "Droh? Xera?"

Droh being a lot closer with the female quarian gives an unexpected hug, "Zeki? I didn't think you were coming here? How have you been?"

Zeki returns the hug but her eyes are fixed on a guilty looking Xera, "I'm fine. Xera what's going on?"

Droh realises she doesn't know and speaks, "Xera is-"

"I tell her myself, Droh. I'm giving my baby to the Wisps." Xera says bluntly and with courage.

"What?" is Zeki's first response before approaching her, "No, you can't do that? Can you?"

"She can." Droh says though isn't thrilled with the idea either.

Zeki turns to him and then to the table where the group of quarians are looking also, "But…why? Why do this now? You can't."

Xera breaths heavily and is on verge of crying when she speaks, "Zeki, I want to be a good quarian. I want to go on my pilgrimage, I want to give something to my people but I can't if I have a child. No one on the Fleet will have a bastard child whose mom was the daughter of a former Captain. I want a normal life."

"At the expense of your child?" she shouts and turns to her former commander, "Who put her up to this, Droh?"

Droh puts his hands up to calm her down, "No one. You remember how they looked at her back on the Rayya. She was given no form of respect because of the pregnancy."

"I have disgraced my name. I was stupid for falling for him." She says before sitting on the couch and sobbing while at the table Arlim shakes his head in both pity and disgust.

In another district, Rhea is walking towards a set of apartments with INC. The machine is leading her to wear this so-called assassin waits and she doesn't know that she is being followed. Filestra is above her in the rafters and has her sniper rifle on hand ready to take care of any possible threats to the asari, on the orders of Krinal itself. The turian watches as the asari stops at an apartment and crouching looking through her scope to see the two.

"Location: Found." INC states and moving to Rhea's side.

She smiles, "Good. At least there wasn't any hiding away like on Aite. Any life-signatures inside the room?"

"Scanning: Negative. Theory: the assassin may be using a cloaking device or new technology."

"Be on guard. I've begun to hate surprises." She says before pressing the keypad and opening the unlocked door.

When she takes the first step inside the place is empty and has no signs of life. The one-room apartment was spacious and for a wealthier type of guest though there wasn't anything to indicate a presence. INC passes through towards the bedroom area and looks out the window to see nothing but the space traffic in the neighbourhood while the asari begin to rummaging through the cupboards of the kitchen area. Inside one unit there were a few tin cans with the words 'nutrient-paste' written on the label in English so she knows it's a human and not a Scythe assassin.

Rhea puts her hands on her hips and thinks to herself on what Krieg has been up to in order to put her in even more danger but doesn't notice a silhouette above her stuck to the ceiling. The stealth cloak was almost perfect though brief movements caused a little static.

INC turns and notices, "Alert: Move!" it shouts as it fires a shot and Rhea dives out the way and pulls her pistol to see this adversary.

The assassin was a human indeed but he was completely covered in custom light armour of a beige and black with and orange crest on his chest plate. The mask he wore resembles a face and weapon he carried was not a firearm but a curved blade with a two-handed grip. The assassin enacts a throwing motion and Rhea dives out the way when from the wrist of the figure are two shuriken surrounded by and electric pulses.

INC fires at the assassin but he puts his left hand up and a shield forms to protect him. He doesn't however anticipate Rhea using a biotic push on him and he is knocked into the kitchen unit. Landing on the wall with his feet, he jumps towards the asari but Rhea falls to the ground and kicks him up towards the ceiling again though when he comes back down she roll to her left. He is quick to get up and attempts to cut Rhea using the blade but she is quick to dodge a vertical attack followed by a horizontal though the latter slice the front of her armour partially.

He pushes her again with her biotics but anticipates the next attack so pulls him towards her. She immediately biotic slams him to the ground and keeps hold of him, "INC, make a force-field." And the machine obeys as blue net projects onto the human.

"Fucking asari, you won't hold me for long." The human says in a thick Australian accent.

Rhea crouches, "No, you'll be dead. Who sent you?"

The figure laughs, "It doesn't matter who sent me, only that my mission is completed."

"To kill me?" She asks.

He laughs even more, "Whoever told you that was merely using you. I have come for the machine. Killing you is just a bonus."

Rhea looks at INC, "Who would want you?"

"My leader. No one knows his name or where he is but he wants the information the grey alien stored inside the machine." The figure says before pressing a button on his thigh and disrupting the net. This allows him to escape and jumps to his feet before he trips Rhea and pointing his blade to her neck, "Your life for the drone."

Before she can answer INC spurs into action and generates a blue-man to fight the assassin. The human is immediately taken off-guard and backflips to get away from the asari. Rhea doesn't know what to do as the blue-man controlled by INC generates a set of armour similar to a soldier while creating a blade similar to the assassin.

"What is this?" the figure questions and hasn't seen such technology.

"Upgrade: Complete. Commencing termination sequence." INC says before the blue-man engages on their behalf.

The assassin defends himself with his blade though the blue-man seems to be getting the upper hand and knocks him to the wall with its palm. It then throws its sword like a spear and the assassin dives out of the way. The blade breaks on impact the hologram regenerates in its hand, shocking the assassin. The blue-man wastes no time as it generates a blade in its free hand so the duelling style will become different.

The assassin sees that it's outmatched by the machine and aims for the window. While running the human's armour lets out a small sonic pulse allowing the glass the break and dives out of view. Rhea holds her earholes because the noise was loud though it stops where the shutters move across the broken glass.

The asari runs to the balcony in vain while INC dissolves the hologram and reverts to its normal form, "You were only able to generate a basic hologram. That was a lot more complex than anything I told you to do."

"Confusion: It seems that Krieg's recent upgrades have finally been installed to my data system though they are a year overdue."

Rhea realises that if the upgrade has just been sent then the possibility of his location has as well, "Check you data and see if there are any messages from Krieg are within. He may have hid them inside the data."

"Processing: Audio Message Found. Earthdate: 04/02/2160" there is a brief pause before a voice can be heard, "INC, I've just arrived in the Terminus. I've recently been on board a ship with some people called Wisps and one will try to find you. If don't get this message, he will explain. Krinal hasn't found me neither has the Duchess but both have sent their share of agents, the one who drove me off Eden Prime was a bounty hunter being blackmailed by the Scythe though it turns out Krinal had his wife. I've seen some terrible things; the K-Thousand project has been placed into the wrong hands. I must find it, find him and destroy him and his fruitless pro-human agenda, he'll doom us all."

Rhea knows that is Krieg's voice and looks at INC with both relief and confusion. "Is that it? Is that the only message from Krieg?"

"Processing: Audio Message Found. Earthdate 22/03/2160." INC begins playing the file, "Rhea…Rhea…Need help!...Planet Kajhe…mutations…Ahhhh!" a series scream and groans can heard before the message cuts off abruptly.

Rhea leans on the wall as the sounds of torture make her heart beat faster, "We have to find him? Something's wrong. Dexillius was wright."

"Audio Message Found: Earthdate: 01/01/2161." It is another message from Krieg though the sound of the voice has changed, "Rhea, if you get this message I need you to find me. I have been chasing a human criminal working for a pro-human organization calling themselves Cerberus. I will be on the Planet Terra Nova in the Exodus Cluster on the Earthdate: 28/01/2161. Be there."

Rhea notices this change in both tone and emotion as he sounded more aggressive, "He sounds different. There's more roughness in his voice. At Least I can find him now."

"Question: Despite the assassin escaping is Krieg more important?" INC asks showing a sense of morality.

"Your wright. I have to find this assassin first and stop him before I can rescue Krieg from whatever he's got himself into. Come on." she orders as the two walk out and Filestra continues tailing them.

Inside the apartment of the Gozu district the quarians were continuing their meeting with Rael'Zroah and Han'Gerrel on one side and Enti and Arlim on the other with Xera's child the object of the discussion. The atmosphere was more relaxed and many quarian talked amongst themselves while Zeki was inside the same room as Xera's child. The infant was asleep and inside a hovering pram that had its contents covered to avoid infection while Xera herself was sitting out of the room due to the recent animosity between the two.

Droh enters the room and sits opposite her leaning forward and taking her hand in comfort and she returns the politeness, "I don't blame you for voicing your opinion earlier. I don't agree with this either."

Zeki smiles under her helmet and is relieved she isn't the only one with her opinions, "Were things really that bad for her? We did our best to support her after what happened on the Xun-Xun."

Droh nods, "I know, that event brought us all together and I thought Xera would be happy that we continued to support her child. The rest of the Fleet didn't understand and because we hid the real facts they never will. The Admiralty Board was concerned with morale of the crew who didn't like this taboo. I can understand that."

Zeki knows what Droh means as he is currently keeping his homosexuality a secret, "Is Tyon okay with this?"

"Tyon was willing to take the child himself, he didn't want this either. The Board dismissed him as foolish and refused. This is first time I have actually been to one of these but I guess the rumours are true."

"What rumours? This has happened before?"

"Many times. You know the Flotilla states that all quarians are permitted to have only one child but doesn't mean stuff like this doesn't happen. The women hide their pregnancy out of embarrassment and the Admiralty Board takes the child and gives to the only members of our race that would look after them." He says as All-Feather walks in and approaches the pram to look inside, "The Wisps take in orphans and raise them as their own, like they did before the geth. I guess that's the reason why they seem to still have a high number despite it being three-hundred years ago?"

"And this has happened all along, the Flotilla casting out orphans due to them being illegitimate offspring?"

"Would you prefer them dead? The Wisps offered this service because they can and I would rather the child be alive and loved than be tormented by the legacy she's been given." He says before hearing the child crying and gets up to tend to it.

He is taken aback with he sees All-Feather opening the pram and taking a better look at the child. When Difan walks into the room and joins them they listen as the Wisp begin softly singing a lullaby to the child in order to calm into down. Difan takes his wife and she uses her free hand to hold his arm with Droh standing on her other side.

"What's he doing?" Droh wonder as he can't understand All-Feather words.

Difan answers for him, "He's singing to her. I've seen him do this to Arlim's children."

"It's sweet." Zeki says resting he head on Difan's shoulder, "That might be you one day."

Difan looks at her and realises that it could be true, "Maybe. We've been so wrapped up in Rhea's business that I haven't thought about our future together."

"I wouldn't let Rhea near a child any time soon. Trouble seems to follow her like a bad rash and Krieg is the same." Droh remarks.

"What happened on the Xun-Xun wasn't Krieg or Rhea's fault. In fact I don't even think it was Gotro either. We just had bad day, that's all." Zeki says and putting that event behind her.

In the other room Xera listens as Arlim is still refusing to take her child due to them not actually being on their ship but are guest of Enti's. The pirate himself is neutral in this meeting and is only acting as an observer.

Han sighs towards Arlim, "Surely you have enough resources to have one extra member of you flock?"

"It's not that simple Han'Gerrel. We normally take in children that have only just been born because it is easier to integrate them into our society. This child is a few years. She'll have memories of her mother."

"What if we gave you a donation to support the child?" Rael asks hoping to persuade him.

"I'm am no businessman Rael'Zorah but I do know a bride when I hear it and when the child asks why did we take her in I will state that you paid us to take her. She wouldn't like that when she has grown up."

"Rael, this is getting us nowhere. Maybe if we find another ship and they'll be more willing." Han says before hearing All-Feather speaks something in the background catching everyone's attention. The two negotiators look at Arlim.

Arlim's face is that of confusion as he turns to his brother and then back to the two, "Excuse me one second." He says before getting up and approaching his brother and talking to him in their language which only Difan can understand to an extent but they are talking at pace that it's hard to keep track. The older brother sits back down and All-Feather stand between the two chair of Arlim and Enti, "A new development has come into play. My brother has expressed interest in adopting the child."

"Really? That's good news." Han say before looking up to the feather-clad quarian, "Does he have experience with children. He looks more like a practical man."

"We Wisps help our families and that includes parenting. My brother is young but he helps take care of my children when I can't or my bondmate couldn't either. He intends to bond or marry soon to his childhood friend with intent of starting a family of his own. He says that they will take child and love her as one of their own." Arlim states as he looks to his brother and says something.

They watch as All-Feather approaches Xera taking her hand, "What's he doing?" she says a he is talking to her.

"He is about to pledge a promise to you. It is tradition that when we adopt the child we swear an oath to the biological mother or closest relative." Arlim reveals before translating, "I, Tannui'Shtet pledge allegiance to this child of the star. To love her and to care, to act as an example and allow her to pursue the truth if she pleases."

When All-Feather finishes he nods and receives a hug from her, "Thank you."

Zeki looks at Difan while smiling, "I guess it isn't so bad. If All-Feather is willing to take her in then at least she'll have some safety." She says before leading him to a private spot and continues, "I don't know if it's this that's making me all interested but I-"

Difan interrupts, "I know what you are going say and I was thinking about it too. If you're ready, I am too." He says and the hug each other with love while Arlim instructs Enti's men to help escort the child inside the pram.

Rhea and INC are running through Omega's alleyways trying to catch up with the human assassin which was thought to have come for Rhea but has instead came for INC though the reason is unclear. The pair are alone and Rhea as her pistol in her right hand ready encase the assassin is closer than she thinks. When they reach a dead end the asari sighs and looks at her companion with doubt.

"Are you sure he came this way?" she as it projects a map on the wall indicating that the assassin has been moving in the direction they have been though she is unconvinced. "He may be tricking us. Did you manage to find out the symbol on his chest and the meaning?"

"Negative: The Symbol doesn't have any known affiliation to any alien organisation." INC reveals to Rhea's distaste.

"So if they don't exist they won't care if he dies." She says smiling before hearing a thudding sound coming from the alleyway they have just past. As she points her weapon INC ready's its turrets awaiting for the target to reveal himself.

She is surprised to see that assassin wasn't the one who is approaching but instead it is a volus. Bylok has come for Rhea in revenge for what Krieg did to his wife. The volus is now wearing his armour and despite his size he looks intimidating to the eye. The black underlaying is covered in silver plates that are much thicker than most acolyte armours. His headgear was more dome-shaped with only a single slit where his eyes were and was a red colour. The right hand was covered by a ranged weapon in the form of cannon and his chest-plating had a notable switch on the left part of the chest plate.

Heavy breathing can be heard before the volus speaks, "At last, I've found you. You lover causes me pain beyond repair." He says before aim his right hand, "I'm here to return the feeling." And he fires a blast of energy toward the pair but she dives out of the way while INC hovers to higher ground. "You will be the source of my revenge. I will give you a painful death."

Tido is wandering through Afterlife and despite a bounty on his head his mere presence has caused stir inside the club. In the main room he stands at the bar and takes a sip of his drink while smoking cigarette but he is becoming an apparent source of annoyance to Aria as she looks down at him and he watches her. He raises his glass to her and knows the reaction as she nods and allows the drell to join her on her balcony.

She turns as he is met with a few disgruntled thugs, "Easy boys. You have a lot of nerve coming in here. My protection allows you to walk free."

Tido sits without permission and puts his feet on her couch, "Thanks. I'm not looking for a fight anyway. I just had some business to take care of."

Aria looks to her guards and indicates that she wants them out of sight while she sits next to him, "So Rhea wasn't lying, you working with her?"

"Well I'm not just working with her if you want to know." he says implying they are more than just business acquaintances.

Aria smiles, "Does her grey friend know about it?"

"Who gives a shit? He's gone and she hasn't seen him for over a year." He says though Aria doesn't have a convinced look about her, "What are you worried about?"

"He'll kill you." She says causing him to laugh, "I'm not joking."

The drell takes a sip of his drink, "Listen, I've fought a clone of him before and that one wasn't hard. He'll have to something out of the blue to really hurt me."

Aria smiles, "He knows about Demeter Job you did." She says catching his attention, "He found out about your biggest payday."

"Impossible. How did he find out?" Tido asks sitting up wright.

"From what I've heard, the Shadow Broker gave Krieg a freebee for killing a double-agent. He knows that you're with Rhea and he knows who your contractor was. He's got you by the balls." Aria reveals smiling, "The fact that you haven't mentioned it to her means that you must have a soft spot for the girl. I hope she takes that into account when you times up." The drell puts his drink down and stubs his cigarette and leaves abruptly to his own discomfort. When he exits the bar he realises that his own ally may be his undoing.

His ally was currently running through the alleyways away from Bylok who is beginning his revenge. The volus is currently walking at a slow pace compared to Rhea's natural speed allowing the asari to hide with more confidence. INC was acting as a patsy for her and Bylok is falling for it as he shoots towards the drone and misses each time while Rhea fixes together her pistol and adds the attachments to make it a rifle.

When she is finished she turns the corner and exposes herself as he turns around and aims his arm-cannon. Unlucky for him Rhea uses a biotic push and takes him off his feet. The volus falls back first onto the ground but the sound of laughter can be heard from him despite looking like a turtle.

"Nice try. I take it Krinal sent you. The double-crossing piece of shit." She says while readying the trigger of her weapon. "You must be Bylok? I didn't know about you wife then. Krieg lied to me about it."

"Don't play innocent, T'Anya. That lover of yours suffocated my wife in a bathroom and was found dead. No one deserves such torture. I must appease my soul, and you death will be the cure." Bylok says reaching for the switch on his chest and turning it on.

To Rhea's surprise Bylok is quick on his feet and begins moving at a faster pace. The suit he wears gives him the ability to move at more rapid speeds compared to his kind and the volus takes full advantage when he run behind her and brings to the ground via tackling her leg. Before Rhea can stand Bylok has jump high into the air and she narrowly moves from his attempted stomp. The volus points his hand-cannon and fires but INC shoots the weapon and redirects it to his right.

He looks up to see the machine keeping its distance but Bylok I quick to close the cap when he uses the momentum of his suit to run up the wall. Reaching a high enough point to strike he springs towards the machine and from his left hand a holographic twelve-inch blade appears. INC dodges the attack but Bylok came dangerously close to it though volus simply lands on the other wall and springs again.

Rhea watches from below and can't believe the new found agility of this volus and this proves a problem for her as her shots are out of time with his movements. Bylok sees the asari recovered and decides that she should die as intended as he slides down the wall and leaps towards her. Rhea cannot react quickly enough as Bylok points his blade towards her and is ready for the kill.

Unknown to either of them another of Krinal's agent makes herself visible as a shot from a rifle hits Bylok quickly enough to miss the attempt to kill Rhea. Both of them look as Filestra jumps down from an air vent and points her rifle at Bylok to Rhea's surprise.

"Filestra? What's the meaning of this? The Emissary will have you head!" Bylok states with his focus of the asari.

"The Emissary was the one who sent me. I intend to do my duty." She says glancing briefly at Rhea and reassuring she is on her side.

Bylok looks at Rhea and then a descending INC, "Betrayed? After all I've done for the cause. You are doomed to fail, Filestra. I will take you head and the asari bitch and hang them off my ship!"

"Just try it!" she shouts before firing her rifle again.

Bylok moves quickly and knocks down Filestra but Rhea is quick to her aid when she is able to lock on her biotics and lift the volus. INC fires a shot from its turrets but it only succeeds in taking down the shield implanted into the suit. The volus springs free and fires a shot at INC. The shot is miss but keeps the machine busy while his next attack heads for Rhea. Firing another shot towards her only makes it easier for another member of this group. Filestra throws a grenade to towards Bylok and while he is expecting an explosion the grenade releases smoke to block his vision.

He wanders through the fog and looks around for any forms of life but his scanner are not picking up anything as INC is jamming the signal and giving both Rhea and Filestra the upper hand. The two use this as Filestra fires a shot into Bylok's back and Rhea appears in front of him to use a shockwave. In air he doesn't have enough time to recover when INC release a holographic net and trap him. Bylok uses his blade to cut through the machines contraption but isn't prepared for the fall.

Rhea uses a biotic push to hurl him into the wall and as the volus stands he sees a glimpse of Filestra. Thinking the turian as his enemy now he makes no remorse in his attack and uses his speed to pace towards her and impales her. When the mist clears it's far from the truth as he only manage to penetrate her left arm and she cries in pain.

Rhea looks at the two and knows that they are technically both enemies but has more sympathy for the turian coming to aid her. She uses what power she has left to hurl Filestra away from the volus and is about to attack this would be killer. She stops however when she sees that the alien has stopped attacking to glance at his left hand. Filestra seized this opportunity while attacked to plant a device on Bylok and it wasn't conventional as the volus's arm was rapidly melting.

Bylok screams due to the pain of the acidic device and the expose to the atmosphere, "You bitch! You have lost already! You can't stop them! They will be you fucking destruction!" are his last words before the acid creeps into his suit and eats the insides.

Rhea looks as the suit become nothing more than an empty shell, "What did you do?" she turns and sees Filestra sitting against the wall and holding her arm. Rhea is quick to approach her and crouch, "Let me take a look."

Filestra immediately resists, "Fuck off! I'm fine." She says holding a straight face but what's as Rhea removes the turian right hand and takes a look for herself.

Despite having armour over the flesh Rhea observes the damage, "Looks like a clean wound. We need to stich this up."

"I'm fine. I've done my mission." Filestra states trying to stand but Rhea refuses her to.

"To protect me? You know he was coming didn't you?" Rhea asks while looking at Bylok suit still being eaten away by the acid.

"I was given the task of taking out some Scythe Agents on Omega. Krinal also gave me orders to protect you should that human assassin come close to killing you. I was also sent to make sure Bylok didn't despite being one of us." She says before pulling a face of discomfort.

Rhea looks at INC though the machine can't give her any guidance, "Then let me return to favour. Come back to my ship and I'll fix you up."

"Krinal would kill me. Besides, I don't want to be added to your collection." She says referring to their prisoner.

Rhea knows that there are risks in what she is doing but her sense of morality comes into play, "Dexillius has direct contact to Krinal. I'll make a deal with him. You're losing blood and we don't have much time."

"What about your assassin?" Filestra wanders knowing he is still on the loose.

"He can wait. I don't think I've seen the last of him anyway." She says before turning to INC, "Find us the quickest route back to the ship." She orders as INC leads Rhea who now helping the enemy for the help she gave her. They don't notice that the human assassin is privy to this encounter as his cloaking was flawless and avoided detection.

Ecroy and Garahie were now both back aboard the Malal and are within the krogan's private quarters. Both of them are contemplating Ecroy's meeting with Agon and what is to come in the future. The krogan is still moving his left arm in pain and doesn't understand why he is having problems with his limb. Their attention is changed however when they see Tido walking past and didn't know that they had been followed by him. The drell also seemed to have problems of his own as the news from Aria is strangely disturbing and looks towards to two before abruptly leaving them to their confusion.

Garahie stands and looks outside to look at the drell walk inside his room, "That's strange. Tido normally has some wisecrack when he passes us."

"Who gives a shit, we've got our own problems." Ecroy says referring to his previous discussion.

"Your problems. I'm just privy to them." Garahie says before sitting down, "So who is this Veteran?"

"I've never met him in person but he is probably the oldest krogan in existence. He was said to be there during our uplifting, the Rachni Wars and even the Krogan Rebellions. By then he became somewhat more of a boogieman to our kind." Ecroy reveals while taking off his armour. "I don't know why Krieg has visited him but I have to get to Tuchanka."

"So you're going to split from Rhea and the others?" Garahie wonders.

Ecroy shrugs as he isn't sure of his next move, "I suppose but I'll have to regroup with her after we find him. Agon has sent a contingent to find him with Brutagus and Yentha also. He wants me to oversee it myself that he is safe."

"Need help?" Garahie asks to the krogan's surprise.

"I thought you weren't interested?"

The salarian smiles, "Hey, Rhea gets me in more trouble than most. A break from fighting oddball machines to homebound krogan with bloodlust for salarians could be refreshing."

Ecroy appreciates the salarian willingness and pats him on the shoulder, "I tell her we have to go but remember to keep quiet."

"Got it." He says before walking out of the room and heading outside.

Inside the hanger bay of the Malal the quarians who went to Omega have returned along with Rhea as some of the guards jump out and help the asari carry Filestra despite being Krinal's Acolyte. The group also help with bringing the child adopted by All-Feather out of the shuttle and while the Wisp and his brother go towards their quarters on another part of the ship Rhea escort Filestra to the elevator to get to the medical bay. Enti exits thereafter with Difan and Zeki and the younger couple can see that he is frustrated and leans on the side of the ship.

"What's wrong, father?" Difan asks concerned.

Enti breaths heavily before patting his son on the shoulder, "Nothing, son. Just a long day. I'm going to get some sleep. Can you cover my duties?"

"Of course." He answers watching his father head towards the elevator.

Zeki links Difan's arm gets his attention, "Is he okay?"

Difan looks to her, "He's just tired. I don't think it's worth telling him anything until he's ready."

"Okay." She says before moving to his front and leaning in, "Does that mean we can have fun tonight?"

Difan laughs under his helmet, "Well, I'll probably be a while. Don't tempt me to slack."

Zeki smiles, "We wouldn't want that, would we?" and let's go of him, "I'm going to see Rhea and this new guest of ours." She says and is followed by INC who is the last of the group to exit the shuttle.

Rhea has entered the medical bay which is below the bridge and was more spacious than other ships. The room had a few beds and she helps Filestra onto one of them and heads to the other side of the room to find some equipment to use. As the turian had a clean wound the procedure could be done quickly and Rhea intends to help as she walks back to the turian and begins to remove her armour. The turian watches and is amazed of how steady the asari is with the syringe she uses and feels her arm go numb while beginning to stitch the wound.

"You didn't have to do this, you know. You could have left me." Filestra says watching her helping her.

Rhea smiles at the thought but dismisses it, "Why would I do that? That would make me as bad as the thing you work for."

Filestra sighs at this statement, "Krinal isn't evil. It raised me and my brothers. We had no one."

Rhea realises that those two turians Krieg kill on Invictus were Filestra's own family, "I'm sorry your brothers died. Krieg just-"

"We knew what to expect. I just didn't believe I would lose them so soon. I have no grudge anymore." She reveals though he face is showing that she still mourns for them.

"Krieg has taken many people important in many lives." Rhea says referring to not just her but Bylok as well.

Filestra nods, "I know. Bylok just forgot that vendetta's aren't allowed and clouded his judgement. Krinal would kill me if I tried to avenge my brothers."

"Is that why you follow Krinal? Because you're scared."

"No, I follow Krinal because I don't know any better. I don't know what's so interesting about you friend but Krinal doesn't want to kill him, you know?"

"I know. I just don't trust it." Rhea reveals almost finished stitching her up.

"Krieg is responsible for the deaths of two of the Duchess's daughters. I don't know why but this war with the Scythe is because of him and you and until something happens it'll continue." She says revealing the truth behind all the conflict that started years ago.

Rhea stands tall and doesn't know how to react, "Then what would you do?"

"I don't know, I'm not here to think. That's what Krinal does." She says before seeing that Rhea has stopped to see her arm is now ready to heal.

Rhea snaps out of her thought and gives the turian a cloth to clean the remaining blood, "Okay, looks like we're finished. Get some rest and I'll come check up on you."

"Thanks." She says as Rhea is about to leave her in the room alone.

Rhea stops when this is heard but exits soon after to meet both Zeki and INC who see the asari wiping her hands, "Hey, how is she? Will she be a problem?"

Rhea turns to them and put on a strong face and breaths deeply, "No, she'll be okay. I need you to get everyone into the briefing room. I know where Krieg is. It's time to find him."


	39. The Happy Couple

**Chapter XXXIX: The Happy Couple**

**16/01/2161- The Malal, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

Rhea waits in the Briefing Room with INC while Zeki rounds together the core members of the crew in order to reveal that she knows the location of Krieg. She has waited over a year for this moment and she isn't taking it well and the thought of Krieg returning has her concerned. The main reason is Tido and her relationship with him due to the drell being notorious and she doesn't believe her friend will understand, but other members of the crew have their own problems.

She turns when the doors open and walking through were her closest allies. Tido, Ecroy and Garahie all sit to her left next to each other while on the other side Difan and Zeki take their seats and next to them Arlim also takes a seat while All-Feather stands. Enti was resting and wasn't present but Difan allows the asari to take his chair for this meeting while INC remains hovering next to her.

"Thanks for coming. I'll be blunt but I need your support." She says before revealing herself, "I've found the location of Krieg or where he will be soon. He's requesting we find him." She states and everyone including the quarians are amazed with this information.

Tido as the most concerned looks straight to Rhea, "I thought you lost contact with him?"

Rhea nods acknowledge her recent problems, "I did. INC, can you explain what's happened?"

"Explanation: When Krieg parted ways with us it was his intention to keep in touch. The messages he may have sent were intercepted and went unnoticed. However on Omega my upload of new programming was almost one year out of date and buried within the upgrades were messages from my creator." It reveals to them though everyone is still concerned.

"So where is he or where is he going to be?" Garahie wonders as the only person in the room who hasn't met Krieg in a sense.

"He said he'll be on a planet call Terra Nova on 28/01/2161 Earth Year. We used this time because it was fairly new to the galaxy." She says.

"And you want us to just put everything down and pick him up. Forget it." Tido says lighting a cigarette.

Rhea sees his face and becomes frustrated, "Tido, this isn't for discussion. We're fighting an enemy we know little about, both Krinal and the Duchess. He may have found out more than we have."

"Making going into that place on Illium a waste of time, making Aite a waste of time and because of him we've had to put up with being the prize of a war. This is bullshit!" Tido says almost ignorantly.

"Hey calm down!" Garahie shouts hoping to bring some peace.

"Shut the fuck up!" he replies point over Ecroy.

The krogan removes his hand from his sight, "Don't try, Tido." And the drell sits normally again while Ecroy turns his attention to Rhea, "I know Krieg is important to you but we have other problems. I got a message from Brutagus, he's stuck on Tuchanka following a lead. He's requests help."

"Great. Well we have to help them." Rhea says though the timing couldn't be worse.

Ecroy continues but doesn't reveal the full story, "I know but it doesn't mean we can do both at the same time."

"But I need you with me." Rhea pleads but the krogan is absolute.

"Brutagus is a key ally. We can't afford to lose him to some dirty home-landers." He says referring to the krogan who remain on their desolate homeworld.

"Funny because I thought I was looking at one." Tido remarks with an insulting smile.

Ecroy stands and towers over the drell, "I said don't push it!"

Garahie is quick hold the much larger alien back, "Ecroy, he's not worth it. He's got a pyjak up his ass about something and we don't have to know what."

Tido stands and looks over to the salarian, "I give you Pyjak up your ass!"

"Hey, you two! Don't argue in here! If you've both got problem take it somewhere else!" Difan says with his hands on the table hoping to keep some respect in the room.

Tido however has had enough and turns his aggression to him, "And you! Why are you still thinking your brother is still alive! If he is, he obviously doesn't care enough to keep in touch!"

Difan points to the drell in frustration, "You crossed a line there! My brother was good to you, we all were!"

"Fuck you! Fuck you brother! Fuck you all!" Tido shouts at him.

Difan sarcastically chuckles, "You think Rhea will always protect you? You're only allowed on this ship because we trust her."

"And she trusts me." Tido replies quickly.

"Because you her fucking concubine!" Garahie says referring to their relationship but in a more insulting manner.

And argument ensures and Rhea is caught in the middle trying to appease all four of them while Zeki, Arlim and All-Feather remain silent and watch the order turn to madness. The elder of the two quarian Wisps looks at his brother and nods as the feathered warrior points his rifle to the ceiling a fires a concussive round and ending the noise.

They all look at them as Arlim stands and laughs at what he sees, "Look at you all arguing like varren over a piece of meat. You're meant to be a team and you have become unravelled by news that will affect us all. Sit down." He orders and one by one they take their seats. "Good, now let's be civilised. Krieg needs your help but so does Brutagus. Both of them are important to you, yes?"

Rhea is the first to speak, "I know it is a bad time but I need his help."

Arlim continues, "Ecroy is wright, you can do both."

"I was going to suggest that me and Garahie go to Tuchanka and find them while you go and find Krieg. We'll meet back hear and decide our next move." Ecroy states and what he originally intended.

Arlim shrugs and doesn't understand what's just happened, "Now was that hard? I can't help you anymore now. I have to arrange things for this child All-Feather has adopted and we need one of you to help."

"I'll help you." Zeki volunteers and looks at her husband taking her hand, "It's okay."

"Thank you. I'm going to leave now and I hope that you'll act more amicably in the future." He says before turning to All-Feather directing him out of the room to leave the shambles they've created for each other.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Whoa, things really heated up that much?" Joker says and thinking that things never got that bad until the crew entered the Omega 4 relay and were trapped on top of the Collector Base.

"They did. I was glad Arlim needed someone to help because I couldn't stand it in there." Zeki says and reveals why she was so quiet.

"I couldn't control all you men. Too much testosterone I think." Rhea jokes looking at Ecroy.

"Hey, I have four working balls and I'm proud of it." He says in jest but turns to Joker, "But things were bad and with this in motion it only got more complicated."

"All of you keeping secrets, that's hard work. I'm glad I just pilot a ship." Joker says as his job is straight forwards and has little conflict.

"I don't envy you. But you've had you moments." Rhea says referring to his time with Shepard.

"Yeah. So, did it go as planned?" he asks and sees Rhea face says it all…

**28/01/2161- The Malal, Asgard System, Exodus Cluster**

Inside the ship All-Feather, Arlim and the other Wisps are keeping to themselves within the few rooms they have been given by Enti while they stay. The group seemed to be tight-knit as they were all family as they sit around a central light and talk in their native language. All fifteen wore suits like other quarians but their suits were each unique and had different accessories to differentiate from each other.

Arlim sits with his family which consists of his wife next to him and his three children. The eldest looked in his early teens and was male while the younger two were his daughters with one on their father's knee and the other sitting between them. To Arlim's right was one of the eldest visitor and it was his and All-Feather's father. The quarian sat in a chair and wore a long tunic over his suit and seemed to be carrying what looked like a cane as his right foot seemed to be replaced with an artificial limb. On the other side of Arlim's father is the elder's daughter and her family but at this time only her and her two sons are present and by the look at their small similar physic that they are twin boys.

On the other side of the room were the members of the group who were not a part of the family. The most prominent was the weapon-smith who was making alterations to All-Feather's rifle and focusing on the bayonet feature. His suit had the addition of armour plates on the chest and left arm and had a whole crate full of loose parts and other weapons. Helping him out was Arlim's cousin who was in his late teens and learning from the smith.

While this group are socialising, All-Feather was in the other room and the quairan was fitting his new daughter with a suit of her own despite only being very young. For Wisps, they build suits for all ages despite it taking resources and this three year old child now was clad in a white suit with a green glass visor. Her head was covered in feathers to give a long hair-effect and she wasn't the only one to have this style as All-Feather soon-to-be wife also had a similar suit.

The couple were hand in hand as the male picks her up with one hand and escorts her to the rest of her new family. Zeki is privy to this along with Arlim's brother-in-law who was one of the few to be able to speak in a more understandable language.

"Thank you for finding some of the material needed to make the suit." He says while looking at the new addition integrating with the family.

"It was no problem, Enti can afford the loss. Will she be okay?" she wonders as this was her friend Xera's child.

"Of course. She'll be loved. I'm surprised that All-Feather was willing to do such a thing." He admits.

"I thought it was weird myself. Why do you think he did it?" she asks hoping for a better answer than she can think of.

"Truly? Well, Wisp-culture decrees that no child should be without a parent and All-Feather will soon be bonded with Lynika and I guess he's understanding that he'll one day have responsibilities as a father himself." He answers before joining the others and living Zeki to ponder whether or not she could provide for a child in the same way.

Rhea and INC are in the Hanger Bay and are getting ready to find Krieg as the pair of them have been waiting for this moment for weeks. Since then Ecroy and Garahie have gone to Tuchanka in order to find someone called the Veteran as well as Brutagus and Yentha who are acting on behalf of Ecroy's Krogan.

Despite wanting this it turns out that she is going alone due to Tido being concerned about his own safety so refuses to accompany her. The drell was leaning against a few crates and watches as she packs her things. The relationship between them is now more open because of Garahie revealing it during the heated debate a few weeks prior but despite the difference Rhea is still supportive of her judgement.

"So, he's in this system?" Tido asks catching her attention.

Rhea stands tall, "That's what he said. He doesn't lie about things like this?"

"Let's hope not." He says taking an inhale of tobacco.

Rhea looks at the drell's disgruntled look and approaches him, "Tido, what's you problem? You've been like this for weeks."

"I just don't like it." He says letting her hold his arms, "It's ironic that you've been looking for this guy and it's only now he decides he wants to come crawling back to you. You don't see the problem?"

Rhea looks at Tido's expression and smiles, "Are you jealous?" she asks and Tido looks away, "I thought you weren't the jealous type. Besides I'm not with him."

"Your nickname disagrees with that." He says with a hint of jealousy.

"It's just a name. You have nothing to worry about." She remarks leaning in and kissing him, "I don't worry about all the women on this ship you flirt with."

"I'm a natural flirt. You know that?" Tido says with a smile.

"Really? Do you fuck every woman you flirt with?" she asks having a point before leaning towards his ear hole, "You want to have quick one before I go?"

Tido attention is stalled by a feeling on his groin as Rhea was hoping for a raise in him. She then leads him inside of the shuttle and closes door where she places him on the nearest chair. Despite INC only being outside Rhea doesn't care as she begins to give her now official man some stress relief.

On Tuchanka, both Ecroy and Garahie have been traveling on foot for days as this part of the planet is too dangerous for ships to fly through. The two have even had to resort to walking in the underpasses of the planet because on the surface the winds are so powerful that even debris moves in unpredictable directions. The underpasses were of typical krogan design while the exposed freeway above them had a huge hole from where a Tomkah crashed or was a result of the foundation giving way.

Both were wearing their armour and had their helmets on as well to avoid dust in their eyes while they pass a group of varren feeding on what looks like the remains of a dead Harvester. The winged creature flew too close to the area and was taken down by the natural weather while the scavenging quadrupeds were seizing the opportunity to eat.

"How far are we? We can't be passing varren forever." Garahie asks feeling uncomfortable.

"Not far. Brutagus' signal is coming from a building three kilometres north of here and it's near where Lord Tovoh gave me the location of the Veteran. We may have found them."

"Let's just hope they have food. I'm getting tired of varren steaks." He says while following him, "So when we find this 'Veteran', will we have to walk all the way back?"

"That's the plan. The building he is said to be in is an old Tomkah factory. Maybe we can find a working model and plan a quicker route back?" He says before leading the salarian into the deeper parts of this area's water system.

The area they enter is flooded with dirty and contaminated water that was four foot high as Garahie steps into it disgusted but keeps on walking anyway. Ecroy leads the way though keeps his rifle above water just encase something unexpected happens.

"I can't believe my people uplifted yours in a state like this?" the salarian remarks, "I guess we were desperate?"

"You were. The rachni would have defeated you otherwise." Ecroy remarks before looking closer in and sees the exit is about fifty yards, "Come on, we should be out of here soon."

Rhea has finished with Tido for now as she heads towards Terra Nova with INC on the chair closest to the pilot's. She is heading towards the capital of the planet known as Scott where Krieg will allegedly be for their reunion. She enters the atmosphere and towards a city that is still developing though it wouldn't be until the 2180's where this planet's future would come into question. The human-built city mirrored many of the new galactic races recent developments and looked clean in that retrospect.

She keeps an eye on the map INC has provided as the two head towards a hanger bay which had been apparently allocated to the asari under an alias. When she enters the shuttle lands upon the landing pad and the left-side door opens for them both to exit. She wears her blue armour like she did on Omega and puts on her hood while looking around at the clean unused facility.

INC exits the ship and she turns to it, "Where do we go from here. Does the map say?"

"Hello?" a shout can be heard as walking through the doors is young human in his early twenties and was wearing a suit of scorpion armour of the light variety. He was armed with a Kessler pistol and his eyes had green sunglasses on them. The human also had blonde hair which was a rarity in humans nowadays. "Are you her?"

Rhea though looking through her hood looks at the human with suspicion, "Depends who you're looking for?"

"Sorry, I would say your name but my friend told me not to." He says referring to Krieg.

Rhea crosses her arms, "Your friend?"

"Well, I guess he's your friend too. I'm Samson, Frank Samson." He says putting out his hand though doesn't get a return due to Rhea not quite sure of what he's doing here, "I see? Well, I guess you're here to help me?"

"I'm here to find my friend." She says walking towards the door.

Frank is quick to block her path, "Yeah, I know and he is helping me. Listen its long story but I have an air-car and I'll-"

She grabs the man by the collar and brings him close, "Why don't you tell me what the fuck is going on and then I'll decide whether or not you're wasting my time."

Frank puts his hands up, "Okay. I came here to find my girlfriend with your boyfriend and-"

Rhea immediately stops him, "He isn't my boyfriend by the way? Why is he here?"

"Well, well I was inside a batarian prison in the Viper Nebula. This gangster wanted me out of the way and sold me to them. Your friend was in the cell next to me and I helped him escape a few weeks back. In return he's helping me get back my girl." he says when she lets him go and gets his composure back, "You see the gangster; Moe Cadman is marrying her today."

Rhea laughs at the situation and how ironic it sounds, "Wait, Krieg brought me here to help you get back a girl, who has the right to marry anyone she wants, from the hands of a human gangster who sold you into slavery?"

"He said you wouldn't ask too many questions. He is here I swear." He says causing Rhea to put her hands up in defence.

"Where is he?"

He points to the doors towards the door, "He's infiltrating the wedding reception. Moe Cadman seems to have pissed him off as well."

"So if I help, you' take me to Krieg?" she get nothing but a nod from the human and sighs, "Okay, let's go. I'm driving by the way."

Frank smiles, "Sure, be my guest. This isn't my car; Krieg stole it the other night for me to get around the city." He says leading her to and air-car that was almost state-of-the-art. It was green and the human opens the left side to allow Rhea in. He sits in the passenger seat while watching INC rest on the seat behind him. He is then given Rhea's hood as the asari wouldn't be seen inside the car to the one-way glass, "Whoa, I didn't realise you were one of those asari chicks."

"Problem?" she says starting the car up.

Frank is immediately intimidated by her dominate tone. "Sorry, it's just I've seen the vids but not one in person. At least you're not a batarian. I didn't know whether to look at the bottom pair of eyes or the top."

Rhea takes a hard left while looking at the radar, "You should avoid them then."

"He didn't say you were grouchy?" He says as the asari glares at him, "He said that you were sweet?" he replies though a hint of false comes from his voice, "I'll be quiet now."

Rhea smiles despite him insulting her a little, "No, it's okay. I'm just stressed because I haven't seen him in over a year. So what's your girlfriend's name?"

"Cynthia. We grew up on earth but we first met here on Terra Nova. We went to the first High School built here. I didn't know her until then but when we graduated we didn't have many options." He says regretfully looking down at the city, "I got a job on security while she worked as cocktail waitress at a bar owned by Moe Cadman."

"Sounds like you don't like this guy? I've seen and met worse in my life most likely." She says and is probably true.

"Not Moe Cadman, he believes he is untouchable. He is a red sand dealer and commits all kinds of crimes. Some worse than others I've heard. He got rid of me because I knew Cynthia and refused to go on his payroll. He framed me, had me arrested and then the dirty cops here gave me to Cadman so he could sell me to slavery." He reveals. "I haven't come back to fail."

"You want revenge?" she asks him as he pulls his pistol out to answer, "Okay, if Krieg is willing and this person is as bad as you say, call me Rhea."

Ecroy is reaching the destination he needs to be and Garahie is not far behind. The pair exits the cover of the building to see the Tomkah factory on the other side of an open expanse the size of a stadium. The two of them are naturally suspicious as the only road was a single runway where the trucks would exit and be deployed for use. The krogan sees something familiar as he runs towards a set of bronze armour lying on the ground and he pulls to face the krogan who once bore it. Both a startled to see the face of the krogan missing along with an arm and part of his left chest.

"Oh shit. A Thresher Maw!" he says looking down the runway and seeing holes where the creature dwells. Ecroy turns to Garahie, "Run!"

The two of them immediately race across the ramp and know that the time it takes to reach the building won't be enough as the Maw can be heard underground moving at a fast pace. The creature however shows itself two hundred yards to their left and is more concerned with the Harvester that is flying across the landscape. The huge creature is lucky as it manage to hook one of its pincers into the body of the smaller by still large creature and bringing it down.

Garahie and Ecroy keep on running when the Maw sees them and immediately goes subterranean and begins approaching the pair though the two had made good time. The salarian however was quicker on his feet and has reached a small opening for them both to enter but Ecroy is slower as the krogan was running out of breath. He stops to rest a second but when he does the Maw rises and towers above the krogan.

Garahie points his sub-machine and fires hoping to catch it's attention but the gunfire barely tickles it. Ecroy begins to move and dives out of the way when it spits its first batch of acid. The dive however leaves him exposed on the floor and looks to the sky when the creature faces him, about to make the kill. However out of the blue, an explosion occurs on the right side of the Maw's jaw and he looks to the possible source of the shot to see Brutagus still alive and signalling them. This gives Ecroy the time he needs to reach Garahie and the two enter.

"That was too close, Ecroy. I don't want to do that again." Garahie says before seeing near a flight of stairs that Yentha is still alive also wearing her armour, "Good to see after so long."

"Sorry about this but this krogan is a lunatic." She says referring to the Veteran. She looks at Ecroy who has his hand on the wall and a face of grief, "I'm sorry about your friends. They protected us from the Maw as best they could." She reveals putting a hand on his shoulder.

Ecroy nods in appreciation before standing firm, "Is this guy here. We need to get him out?"

Yentha sighs, "Well that's easier said than done. He won't leave."

Garahie sarcastically laughs, "Great. You've got to be kidding?"

"Come see for yourself." She says directing them upstairs.

The three walk up the steps and enter a factory where wheels were once made and the tire formation on the far end was a sight to be seen. The tires had been used as a makeshift home for the krogan who occupies it as the he sat on a tire lying flat with boarding on top while and the krogan slept in a set of tires for a bed. The two see that instead of artificial light he made a bonfire instead in order to generate more heat and sits in front of it.

The krogan himself was covered in sheets from head to toe and over these dirty clothes were piece of armour that looked ancient compared to most. He also held a staff in his right-hand and lay across his lap and the end had a simple pommel like it was once a halberd-type weapon. His face was covered in an old war-mask made in two parts. The white face's upper-jaw was scratched and scarred and the same for the lower half.

"Are you the Veteran?" Ecroy ask while they are joined by Brutagus.

The Veteran lifts his head to reveals the eyes have blue lights as eyes, "Your friends are dead, but you are not. You are worthy to be here. What may I do for you, exile?"

"I've been asked on behalf of my people to escort you to a place of safety." He says and sees the other krogan shaking his head.

Brutagus looks at Ecroy, "We've been here for weeks and he won't budge. Said he is waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Garahie ask innocently.

"He won't say." Brutagus says in frustration while sitting on a nearby tire.

Ecroy looks at the krogan and sees from his manner that there must be more to his decision, "Why was Krieg here?" he asks bluntly catching everyone's attention though they know that Krieg has been here.

The Veteran laughs, "Krieg. One who truly understands what's coming forth like Krinal. The two are preparing their part, are you preparing yours, exile? Will you stand tall in front of true fear or crumble like those before?"

"He's not making sense." Garahie says crossing his arms, "He's insane."

This remark causes the figure to stand and even for a krogan he is tall and towers over the group, "Insane? Is insanity to know the truth, little salarian? Your race uplifted the korgan for you own means and in return you destroyed them. If anyone is insane it who rules this galaxy now and denies the fish in the skies."

"He's been mentioning the 'fish' all this time. I don't know what he's talking about." Brutagus says before confronting him, "Why stay here all this time?"

"Why not? I have peace here on my own and I sleep listening to the countless unimportant things sentient life offers." He says before walking up to a console and typing in a code, "And my old friend requested that I stay and wait for someone."

"Krieg? You've been waiting for Krieg this whole time? Why?" Ecroy asks waiting for the truth.

"As the first Acolyte I must follow the orders of my Emissary." He reveals meaning he knows of Krinal and is allied with him.

Brutagus pulls his rifle, "It's a trap. We've been in this trap for weeks!"

The Veteran hears the sounds of the weapons being drawn and reacts before fire. His age doesn't stop him as on the end of his staff eject spearhead and swings it to cut the end of Brutagus' rifle off and prevent him from firing. The krogan then charges and knocks him down before using his free hand to grab Ecroy's left arm and pull him off balance tripping him. Using the blunt end of the staff he pushes Garahie in the stomach and grabs Yentha by the collar and hurls her across the room.

In a few moves the Veteran has defeated all four and then reverts back to his slow old state of using the staff as support while looking at the fallen aliens, "Pity, I expected more from Spectres, a C-Sec officer and a trained exile but I guess I was only here to teach one."

Ecroy sits up and looks at him, "No krogan moves that fast."

The Veteran looks at him and through the mask smiles, "I am not krogan, not anymore. I am merely a foreshadowing of you all. Krieg came here when he was looking into the mystery of Krinal and found that I existed."

Brutagus sits up and shakes his head in shame, "What did he want?"

"Answers, what else? He wanted to know what the Scythe is. This is question to which now three of us have the true answer." He states.

"You, Krieg and Krinal?" Brutagus guesses.

"Indeed. He also wanted to know his purpose in life, something which he hasn't found, neither have we. The grey alien is cunning and will stop at nothing to find the truth, that's why both I and Krinal wanted him alive, so we could find out together."

Yentha stands and rubs the back of her forehead, "You said something about the Scythe. We know what it is."

"No you don't and that is the problem with you. The asari supremacist organisation is merely ignorance to the truth. Krieg know the answers, ask him. Now leave and let me met my maker in peace." The Veteran states before presses a button to open the huge door leading back to the runway, "The Tomkah truck will get you out of this storm but I ask one thing in return, never come back."

The group look at each other and know that it isn't worth their lives attempting to reason with the krogan who obviously wants to be left alone. Ecroy is the first to show that he isn't willing by heading down the steps towards the top of the Tomkah where they can enter. He is then followed by Yentha, Brutagus and Garahie as the krogan starts the engine and proceeds to leave the place he has spent weeks trying to find. The Veteran watches as they leave and shakes his head in disappointment.

Rhea was standing with her recon hood on looking at the other side of the street to where many cars were parking in front as the wedding was about an hour away. INC was by her side scanning the area for possible threat and Frank was leaning on the hood of the car with a helmet on. In this time the sight of mercenaries were not really questioned as the front of the church seemed to have a contingent of them wearing blue attire with a symbol that was associated with the Blue Suns.

At this time the group were only just establishing themselves and normally focus on more high-profile targets but the group were affiliated with this gangster known as Moe Cadman. The man himself was wearing a white-blazer tuxedo and his facial appearance gave the impression that he had some plastic surgery as his nose was considered very symmetrical and his cheeks were pronounced. The human had brown slicked-back hair and a moustache with a small goatee beneath.

"So that's the guy?" Rhea asks though not pointing, "Why hasn't he questioned our presence?"

"Cadman has hired not just the Blue Suns to guard him but some independent mercenaries as well to avoid suspicion. He's a very paranoid man." Frank states, "We haven't been hired but there are too many wise-guys here to question the extra bodies."

Rhea turns to him, "So you want to get in through the back?"

Frank nods, "Sure. Krieg said he'll find his own way inside the room. He specifically said to shoot only those who fire at us."

Rhea looks up to the roof of the building and sees that the human structure is a good place to hide as the spires were easy to take cover around, "I have a feeling Krieg will jump down and met us. He likes showing off."

"If you say so." Frank says before leading her towards the opposite side of the street. Instead of heading to the building itself he takes her to the system of alleyways behind the part of the street so they can wait it out.

Rhea crouches to see the back entrance is being guarded by two of the Blue Suns, "Doesn't seem too hard. INC, how many guests are inside?"

"Answer: Five-hundred and twelve. Processing: The Bride shall be arriving in twenty minutes."

Rhea looks at Frank, "Okay, I'm in charge. Do as I say and we'll get you girlfriend back." And the human nods as they both wait for the reception to begin.

The Thresher Maw never attacked the group as they exited the Tomkah Factory and the four were driving across the freeway and making better time than they did walking as Ecroy drives steady but with pace. All of them have been left both confused and estranged from their experience and can't understand the meaning behind the Veteran's words.

Garahie however decides to break the silence, "You know it could have gone worse. We could have died." He says but the reaction of the others is dismissive.

Ecory however indulges the salarian, "I agree, but the High Lords wanted him safe even though he clearly stated he worked for Krinal. I don't get it."

"Neither do I." Brutagus replies leaning back comfortably, "Well, at least we know that Krieg has been here. Maybe he can tell us what's going on."

"Rhea's located him. She's finding him as we speak. The quicker we get back to the Malal, the quicker we get some answers." Ecroy says before looking outside to his people's native world and what they have made of it, "Let's just hope the search is not all for nothing."

Inside of the reception where the wedding is taking place two of Cadman's men wait holding assault rifles as they have been given guard due on the highest floor. The room was where the party afterwards would be held and the room was built around a huge dancing area and in front of an orchestra with ever instrument ready. Behind the orchestra was the window and on each side was an entrance to the balcony. This was all that could be seen as the lights were off to prevent wasting energy.

The pair was looking at the buffet table and helping themselves to some food while the other was looking around from the centre of the dance area, "Man, the boss sure went heavy on the place."

"I know. I heard the place cost thousands to book and supply. He must really love this broad." He says as he takes a wine glass and a bottle of champagne, "Hey fancy and early celebration."

The other guard smiles, "Why not?" he says as he is given a glass and his friend pours it. The other one however decides to show off and drink from the bottle and his friend watches while about to sip the champagne. Before he can take a sip his friend drops the bottle and holds his throat, "Hey, are you okay?"

With this the goon drops to the ground and doesn't move as the living human watches the liquid chew into the floor indicating it wasn't an alcoholic beverage. He throws the glass away from himself and looks around with a feeling that he is being watched but when facing away from the buffet table he immediately screams and falls over on his front. A second later he is pulled under the table and the last sound coming from his mouth is a light exhale.

Outside Rhea and Frank are still watching the two Blue Suns guarding the door. She looks carefully and sees that one is looking at the time and indicates to the other to follow him as they leave the area temporarily. "Now's our chance." She whisper pulling her pistol out and leading both INC and Frank to the back entrance.

When they enter the asari turns to her left to see two men in suits and before they can pull their weapons on them she hurls the pair biotically into the wall and knocks them unconscious. The bang from the move causes another to enter prepared for them as he aims his pistol but Frank shoots him first cleanly in the head.

While they continue the wedding reception seems to be proceeding despite the infiltration and Moe Cadman is waiting at the altar. Most of the groomsmen are his friends and business associates while on his half of the chapel are not just his family but numerous cooperate and criminal humans associated with him. On the other side of the chapel are the bride's family and friends who are overshadowed by these shadowy figures but nonetheless have come to support the bride.

Cadman looks to his best man who is a human with black hair and dark complexion, "Sal, have we swept the place?"

Sal puts his hand on his shoulder, "Relax, there are guys in every room and they haven't found anything. Now let's get you married." He says reassuringly as the music plays and the religious official waits next to the groom.

Rhea, INC and Frank have managed to reach the rafters above and the human stops when he sees the bride being escorted down to the altar by her father with a veil over her face. Rhea taps him on the shoulder to indicate they should get moving and he follows her to the nearest staircase for them to go down. The music from the organ blocks out the sound of Rhea attaching the suppressor to her pistol and shoots the guards quietly with no one suspecting a thing. The two have the perfect view looking down to them as the bride has reached the altar and her father unveils her.

Cynthia was beautiful and unlike her husband-to-be she had natural beauty with long black hair and a slightly dark skin-tone. She walks past the bridesmaids and confronts the man Frank wants to destroy as he smiles while Cynthia sighs nervously.

The official begins his speech while Frank fills Rhea in on the tradition, "Okay, the guy in the middle is the priest he will talk about the religious stuff and then it gets to the vows. Cadman will speak first and then Cynthia will. After Moe Cadman finishes we take out the four groomsmen. They're his oldest friends, his original gang back on Earth."

"You've really thought this through." Rhea whispers while looking at the ceremony.

"Well, when you're in a cell for a few weeks there is not much to do." Frank says readying his gun, "Okay, here we go."

"I, Morris Stanley Cadman, take thee, Cynthia Maria Almos, to be my lawful wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth."

When this final word is spoken a few gunshots come from above instantly killing Sal and the others. The sounds of scream can be heard thereafter will the Mercenaries immediately head above but things get worse as the bodies are knocked down by Rhea biotics and the hired muscle either die or are incapable of continuing their work from the seventy foot drop.

Frank is the first to come down and holds his gun while pushing through the guests, "Thought you'd get rid of me that easily Cadman? You fucking piece of shit!" he says taking his helmet off.

Rhea walks down with INC and pushes through while Cadman shows a face of rage while looking at his fallen friend, "Sal, Beefy, Tank, Fritz." He turns to Frank, "You've ruined everything you little cocksucker. I know I should've killed you!" he shouts causes the bride's guest to show face of shock.

"Instead of selling me to slaves, either way is bad." He says pointing the pistol at him only for him to be shocked with what comes after. He sees the women he loves running in front and blocking him from his revenge, "Cynthia, move out of the way."

She shakes her head, "You've ruined it all. I told you to stop following me and I thought you did but instead you try to ruin everything for me. I don't even know you name and yet you know everything about me, who are you?"

Rhea listens and realises something is amiss with what she is saying as she looks at Frank, "What's going on?"

Frank turns his head while still pointing the pistol, "This doesn't concern you now."

Rhea takes off her hood to reveal she is an alien to everyone's shock and points her pistol to Frank, "Put the gun down, Frank."

Cadman looks at the asari, "Hey, bluie. Don't bargain with him, shoot him!"

Rhea is in a situation that she doesn't want to be in and looks around hoping that Krieg is here somewhere to help her out, "Shut up! Frank, put the gun down!"

Frank looks at the asari and his eyes show his true colours, "No." and turns the gun onto Rhea but before he can shoot he feels a glass bottle hit him in the face and immediately falls to the ground. The bottle came from above was the same type that choked the guard in the party room and was laced with acid as it chews through Frank's skin at rapid pace but Rhea is more focused on above where the bottle came from.

"It's seems that once again I am responsible for saving you live, Moe!" a voice say from the speakers in the room and Cadman recognises it but so does Rhea, "You know, it was ironic that this guy was next to me in the prison and wanted your blood but I knew he was lying. Just like you. You see, ladies and gentlemen you know of Moe's profession but not of Moe himself and his secrets."

"What are talking about, freak?" he shouts above.

"You know of what I'm talking about! I found your ship and its precious cargo! You sick bastard, no humanity in what you do, it makes the insane person on the floor look normal despite his makeover!"

"Fuck you! I have more men and they'll make you pay for killing my crew!" Cadman shouts above but doesn't know where exactly towards.

"No they won't. The Blue Suns aren't very happy with you Mister Cadman. I gave them a better deal." The voice replies before appearing from beyond the church official via biotic charge and grabbing Cadman's collar, "You head on a plate!"

The figure was Krieg and at last he was reunited with Rhea but even to her his new look is alien his physic was more muscular than before and she could tell from under the clothing he wore. The chosen attire was an old set of black assassin armour which consisted of the chest and back plates along with the thigh plating. From the knee down, Krieg was covered in think cloth leggings and nothing on his feet but black tape. His arms were covered in tape and he dons an overcoat that was ripped and tone and had the blood of many on it while his face was covered by numerous bandages with exception of his mouth and eyes.

"Krieg?" Rhea says and the grey alien looks at her.

Krieg looks at the asari head to toe with a sense of familiarity, "You came then, good. We have work to do, and not much time." He says before looking back to Cadman, "Didn't think you would see me again, did you? You little deal with the three-headed dog went array."

Cadman shows fear in his face and knows who he is talking to despite thinking he has changed, "Listen, my business doesn't concern you. You didn't have to get involved."

"I know, but I did anyway after I found your ship and what happened there. You are a fucking sick son of a bitch. You let your men take advantage of its cargo." He holds the human with one arm and looks to the crowd, "This man had kidnapped females from outer colonies with intent of selling them as slaves, but not your normal slaves!"

Rhea looks around and sees that many of Cadman's business associates are questioning the gangster business before turning to Krieg, "Give him to the authorities Krieg, we don't have time."

"Oh, Rhea. We have all the time in the world. Be hold I will show you true power beyond your comprehension." He says before raising his hand pulling Frank's pistol. He grabs it and puts in Cadman's hands and the human immediately points it at the alien, "It's a shame that your death is a public spectacle."

Cadman begins shaking and feels something in his mind as the human slowly brings the pistol towards himself and underneath his chin, "What are you doing?"

"Making you die by your own hand." Krieg says smiling underneath the bandages, "Goodbye, Morris." He says and the human shoots himself through the head. The whole place begins to panic and the humans flee the room while Krieg approaches Rhea and INC, "Come on, I don't want to be here anymore."

Rhea watches her friend in confusion as the grey alien walks down the altar and INC follows. She keeps up but her distance at the same time from the journey in the air-car back to the hanger bay she met Frank on. The journey had been quiet but as they entered the shuttle Krieg waited in the back while Rhea piloted to the controls. As she takes off and quickly out of the atmosphere she sets the shuttle on auto-pilot and goes to the back to see her friend and can tell that the alien doesn't look himself.

Krieg looks to her and sighs, "I know what you're thinking, Rhea. It had to be done."

"You hired the Blue Suns, you knew Frank was insane. You manipulated the whole thing."

He looks up to her, "And what of it? You would have done the same in my position. It was better he died quickly. Thank you for finding me."

Rhea looks away in frustration and crosses her arms, "It's been over a year, Krieg. I almost gave up on you. Where have you been?"

Krieg sighs, "Seeking answers, to all of this. I have been across the galaxy discovering the truth that no one knows of. I'm disturbed by it."

"You look disturbed with all them bandages." She says before kneeing in front of him and reaching for his face, "Let me take a look."

"No." he says removing her hand when she makes contact.

"Krieg, I looked the first time something like this happened. Let me have a look." She says as the aliens calms down and allows her to unravel his face.

She takes the bandages of slowly and they had been there for a while as the sweat and blood had caused it to stick to him but he was shy about his appearance once again. His face had once again been through a transformation and this was more prominent than scale-ridges he grew during their time on the MSV Angel, the Xun-Xun and Intai'sei.

The patterns had be become more pronounced and looked crystallised by the jawline made it look as if he had a beard while the cheek lines were simply much tougher. The eyebrow lining had spread to his forehead leaving only the middle visible and this didn't stop hear as his new spiny light grey additions went from the forehead and replacing his hair until it reach the back of his neck. It moved when Rhea touches it though she does see that some black hair still existed on the top of his head.

His face had resemblance to a skull but even his teeth were sharper than before and his neck had two parallel flaps of skin daggling to his upper chest. These flaps also situated on the top of his earhole, giving him an 'ear-like' quality. Another prominent feature was that his had flattened partially and his nostrils were more visible. As she takes his coat of she sees that his arms and skin have developed a rougher texture than before but also show faint signs of a pattern where his veins pump blood.

When she is finished she looks at Krieg as the only things unchanged are his jet black eyes, "By the Goddess."

Krieg looks at the floor embarrassed and didn't want her to see him look this strange but to himself he was grotesque, "So tell me, Rhea. Are you satisfied? Do you like what you see?" he says before showing his tongue revealing that even that had changed and the end had become partially-forked. He retracts his tongue and looks at INC, "INC, set a course for Korlus within the Eagle Nebula."

"Affirmative." The machine obeys.

He stands tall and looks directly at Rhea, "We must go now."


	40. The Destined Plunge: Part I

**Chapter XL: The Destined Plunge: Part I**

**28/01/2161- Asgard System, Exodus Cluster**

Rhea looks at her friend and is in both a state of confusion and awe over his new appearance. The grey alien however was frim as he directs INC to take the controls of the shuttle and orders to go to Korlus rather than back to the Malal which was waiting near the edge of the star system. She watches Krieg put back on his jacket and sit on a seat within the back of the shuttle while Rhea still stands and unsure what to think.

"No, we have to go back to the ship and sort this mess out." She immediately says after thinking about the situation.

Krieg stands with an expression is of desperation, "We can sort this mess out on Korlus, that is where Krinal is and I need to go now."

"No, Krieg! You can't just turn up and take over. We do things differently now." She says referring to her team on the Malal.

"So do I. This is opportunity we've waiting for Rhea, a chance to end this."

Rhea shakes her head in disagreement and looks outside to see Terra Nova leaving them. "Listen, if we go back, we'll have a better chance of getting to Korlus within a Dreadnaught."

"Only for it to be destroyed by Krinal's Fleet. No, we must catch the Emissary off-guard. When we are done with Krinal we can focus on ending the Scythe once and for all." He states and with more aggression with every word.

"Fuck. How do you know Krinal is on Korlus? Why would it be on that dump of all places?"

"Korlus is filled with old wreckage and resources that can block out Krinal's hiding spot and numerous bases. Like the Scythe he is using my DNA for experiments though one in particular must be dealt with."

Rhea remembers the asari on Aite and the pain that that they must have endured, "I've seen what the Scythe was doing on Aite. They were breeding asari with your DNA and they turned out to be failures. We captured an Acolyte and he said your DNA is useless unless used properly."

"Now it is. In this state, my DNA is mutated to a point it can't be unaltered but Krinal has the DNA from the K-Thousand Project when I first was captured. It still useable while the Scythe is using the remaining clones of myself to fuel their experiments with little success." Krieg walks to her and puts a hand on her shoulder, "Rhea, you must trust me on this. I wouldn't ask unless I was desperate."

She shakes his arm off her and sighs, "Okay, I'll do it but when we are done promise you'll stay this time."

"When we are done, I'll dictate my future." He says with promise causing her to turn around, "I've missed you."

Rhea smiles and still sees her friend behind the new face as the grey alien lies on a few seats and gets some well-needed rest and the asari just watches him rather than continuing their conversation. She gets up and heads into the cockpit with INC and while there she thinks to herself that despite having her friend back after a year, she wishes he would have been more trusting.

**2185- Rhea Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Zeki is looking through the kitchen units within the main room while Joker, Rhea and Ecroy all sit and continue consuming their drinks. The quarian was scouring the units for her food as she didn't eat the same cuisine as the others but nonetheless needed to eat. Joker takes a sip of his coffee and sees that Rhea is beginning to struggle telling the story from here as what she had described was an emotional experience.

"I know what's it's like to lose someone and then them reappearing out of the blue, Rhea." He says referring to Shepard.

"Don't worry. Krieg may have changed again but he was more determined than ever to finish this and be done with the Scythe. Ecroy, you met the Veteran and he had met Krieg."

Ecroy nods, "The Veteran only met a few people in the state he was in. Most krogan who went to visit him only did once in their life and were disappointed but he made an allowance for Krieg, I guess it was because they shared some sort of kinship."

"A grey alien who was mutating and a partially-husked krogan? kinship?" Joker says confused.

"They were both outcasts because of their appearance. Only the difference was that the Veteran was once organic while Krieg… he never told us the full story." Ecroy admits.

"Hey, Zeki. How did you react when Krieg high-jacked both your shuttle and Rhea?" Joker shouts to her.

Zeki looks over to them, "At first we were concerned as I watched the ship enter the relay but we had to stick to retrieving Ecroy and the others, and when we did it only got worse."…

**01/02/2161- The Malal, Utopia System, Exodus Cluster**

It's been a few days since Krieg and Rhea went off on their own to Korlus though the quarians didn't know and were left in a state of confusion. Enti was in the briefing room with both Difan and All-Feather while Zeki entered and sat next to her husband. They were waiting for Ecroy's return and were concerned as this unforeseen event had everyone in a state of panic.

"Ecroy has just arrived. He and the others are coming up now." Zeki informs.

Enti sighs and leans back on his chair, "What do we tell them? That her friend has coxed her into heading for a destination unknown to us."

"There may be an explanation that we don't know of yet?" Difan says hoping for there to be some other reason and keeping an open mind.

"I'll keep that in mind when she returns with my shuttle." He says before the doors open and he sees Ecroy, Garahie, Brutagus and Yentha enter, "Great, you're here. Did you mission go well?"

"You could say that. Has Rhea come back?" Ecroy says before noticing Rhea's absence, "Where is she?"

"She's gone?" Garahie says surprised at her boldness, "She must have found her friend taken off somewhere."

"Really? Interesting." Brutagus says sitting down and thinking to himself, "It's strange that when we met the Veteran he happened to be an Acolyte of the Emissary. He said that we could get answers about all this from Krieg."

"Do you know where he's heading." Enti asks hoping the Spectre has an idea.

"Do you still have the female turian on board?" the Spectre asks and gets a nod from the quairan Captain, "If she tells us where the Emissary is then we can make a bargain with her."

"Rhea won't like that." Zeki says in her defence, "I don't even know she can be trusted."

The turian crosses his arms, "I don't think we have a choice."

The shuttle had landed on Korlus and was visually hard to see due to the various disposed ships that surrounded it. The pair who occupied the ship was inside and Krieg was waiting for Rhea to put the rest of her armour on. She is strapping her heeled boots onto the armour and trying focus away from her friend though the alien is constantly staring toward her. Feeling uncomfortable she turns away as she puts her utility belt on and sighs due to the stress of the situation they are in.

"You don't have to come with me. You can stay here if want." Krieg says causing her to face him.

Rhea glares at him but after heads to a small locker and takes out some water and cloth, "You brought me here okay. I want to know what's going on as much as you. I'm not letting you slip away this time." She then puts some water on the cloth and sits beside him, "Besides you need cleaning up. Those bandages on you face have left you looking dirty."

"I fine." He says putting her hand down.

"Shut up." She says and doesn't get any resistance when she dabs the cloth on the alien's face. "I still can't get over what you did to that Cadman." She says as she once saw a similar thing happened with his clone.

Krieg is uncomfortable as she cleans his left cheek, "Would you rather I shoot him personally?"

"I would've preferred if you had just met me at the hanger." She says in frustration before continuing, "And this. You keep surprising me."

He smiles weakly, "So do you. I appreciate you not giving up on me. I know that you didn't want this but, I care."

"For me?" she asks though knows the answer and continues, "I care for you too. You're my friend, Krieg. You've looked after me, you've taught me so many things but it was strange without you all this time. I thought things would be back to normal."

"I know. But some things don't change." He says grabbing her hand by surprise though he doesn't feel any resistance. However unlike before he lets go willingly and waits for INC to exit the cockpit, "INC, have you uploaded the map into your databanks?"

"Affirmative: Location of Krinal, unknown however local rumours of the local valley of wreckage ten miles north gives off huge quantities of drone signatures." It informs them.

Krieg looks at Rhea, "Krinal is a missing piece in this puzzle. I need answers from it. Let's go." He says before opening the door of the shuttle and jumping out. The sunlight is hard on his eyes so he pulls out a pair of goggles and places them over his vision and turns while Rhea puts on her recon hood. The three of them begin their trek towards Krinal and after a long wait will finally meet their enemy.

Filestra is lying inside the medical bay and is sleeping though it has been a few weeks since she has been on board the ship. Rhea had patched her arm up well though her peace would be interrupted soon. When Brutagus, Yentha, Ecroy and Zeki enter the room to see her body laying there the turian nods to Zeki for her to wake the Acolyte up. She opens her eyes immediately and sits up to see them though she isn't thrilled or intimidated by the group.

"Good sleep?" Brutagus asks slyly getting her attention, "We need something from you."

She laughs quietly, "Isn't that irony. I come aboard here expecting hospitality now I'm subject to interrogation."

"Not interrogation. We have a deal for you." Yentha says sitting on the bed beside her, "Rhea has found Krieg and they gone missing."

"And that's my problem?" she says looking at the others, "Why do you need me?"

"Because you know where Krinal is. Tell us and we'll set you free." Ecroy answers.

"If I tell you, Krinal will kill me." She replies and refusing their offer, "Is there anything else."

Zeki walks to her and leans over, "Listen, my friend who you owe has gone somewhere your familiar with most likely and we need to know. If you tell us then consider yourself free." She says before leaning next to Yentha, "She's important to me, to us. She's like a sister."

Filestra looks down and knows what it's like to lose a sibling despite this only being metaphorical, "If I help you, I want out. Drop me off on the nearest spaceport." She offers and the quarian looks at the Spectres for agreement and get it almost immediately, "Your friend will most likely be going to Korlus. Krinal has its main operations centred there."

"Thank you. This means a lot." Zeki says before leaving abruptly and she is followed by Yentha who seems to be concerned for the quairan and leaving the details to Brutagus and Ecroy.

The older male turian sits on the closest chair, "Rhea has gone with Krieg to Korlus then? They may need some sort of backup."

"No backup will help you. Krinal has been building that place for centuries under everyone's nose, even the Shadow Broker doesn't know what goes on in there. The Emissary has thousands of drones ready along with a self-built army, and then there's the Daughter."

"The Daughter?" Ecroy says and gives a look of confusion to Brutagus.

"It's a pet, a giant drone that would harvest aliens for experiments. If Rhea and Krieg are going inside there not coming out." She reveals.

"We've been in worse situations." Brutagus says jokingly before turning to Ecroy, "A small team could be all it takes. Me and Yentha will come up with a plan." he says before heading out himself and Ecroy following.

Krieg leads the way as the grey alien paces in front of both INC and Rhea in order to scout and see if the passage is safe. They were heading for a place called the Forgotten Valley and this was but one way into Krinal's lair but by far the most elusive as no one ever came back alive venturing there. Rhea watches the way her friend moves and sees that he tends to climb more than he use to and Krieg is using his toughened skin to his advantage.

The alien jumps high enough to grab a wing of an old ship and pulls himself up while looking in front and seeing the valley entrance was only a few miles away and visible to the eye. He then climbs the slanted surface higher up and crouches before Rhea and INC get closer. The asari sees him give a signal to arm herself as trouble looked as if it found them.

Krieg was wright as coming from the open terrain was a group of Krinal's drones though these were of the spider variety and worked together as one when they moved. Rhea watches from behind a wall of debris as INC joins his creator and readies for battle though both are much more experienced with this enemy. The spider-drones climb each other to grab the wing and bring themselves onto their level but Krieg has other ideas as he throws a shockwave of biotic energy in-between the tower and separating the group.

INC focuses on the bottom group and fires from its turrets while Rhea picks them off with her pistol. The machine then shoots a blast of electricity through a few to separate them again and is successful in disabling a group of them. Rhea stops and changes her pistol into an assault rifle for better use but an unsuspecting enemy arises in front of her though her confusion causes her to freeze.

Shanol had appeared from behind and despite the elcor being slow he moved at pace as he punches the ground and sends a small shockwave of his own to cause Rhea to stumble. Being only ten feet away the elcor was persistent in his attack and fires a beam of energy from his shoulder turret but Rhea dives out the way and falls on the ground to fire. The heated bullets have no effect on the elcor's impressive armour and shields, instead of moving sluggish he moved more reminiscent to a gorilla, stomping his way to her and then standing on his hind leg before smashing his forearms into the ground.

Krieg was disposing of the spider-drones quickly using his biotic to smash them into the wall and into INC's support fire but when he sees Rhea in trouble he leaps of the wing and towards the ship and over to her. He doesn't make it half-way before something grabs his ankle and swings him in the opposite direction as Aqualas the hanar had arrived also. The hanar moved quicker like Shanol though his suit allowed him to fly through the air in the way hanar naturally do in the water. It land on top of Krieg and his two front legs begin using the two sharp blades to stab the grey alien.

Krieg rolls left and then right before the hanar picks him up by the throat with his middle right leg and strangles him. The hanar then attempts to impale him with his left front leg but Krieg holds it with his biotic and redirects it so he can grab it. Aqualas tries to shake the grey alien off him but Krieg is waiting for wright moment.

When he gets his footing, he biotically pulls the other front leg and with the strength he has in him begins to pulls the hanar off his feet. Krieg spins only twice before letting go and aiming for the elcor that is on top of Rhea. Rhea is saved when the force of Aquals hitting Shanol knocks the elcor over. She fires her weapon at both of them as they try to get up until she rendezvous' with Krieg and INC.

"Who are these guys?"

"They're Krinal's elite. I've encounter them once before. Watch out, they're going to join together." He states as they watch the teamwork.

As Aqaulas is the quickest he jumps to the elcor's back while he is still on the ground. The hanar positions himself so that he is lying against Shanol. Their armour opens and begins to join together and as they are doing this Aqualas tentacles push the elcor back onto his feet. However the Elcor now with the addition of extra limbs can stand on his legs alone while Aqaulas' tentacles extend to counter the balance. The combined Acolytes decided however not to attack but instead retreat and wait for another time to strike as they use the elcor's hand toe direct and the hanar's legs to support as they climb over some debris and disappear.

"Looks like Krinal doesn't want us getting in." Rhea says before she sees Krieg picking up a piece of disused curled metal, "What are you doing?"

"I've got an idea. INC, let out the ropes from you rear shaft." He says and machine release two ropes about ten feet long. Krieg puts his feet on the metal and leans to feel if there is any strength, "Okay, come in front and hold my arms."

"What?" Rhea replies.

"Rhea, from what we just encounter we need to be quick. Come one." He orders as she ducks under the right rope and stands on the metal, "Okay, hold my jacket and lean you head on my shoulder."

Rhea turns and looks at him, "Is this some kind of thing you do all girls?" she asks though Krieg isn't laughing. She instead shrugs and leans back into Krieg while wrapping her arms over his.

"INC, pull us steady but with pace." He says and before Rhea can speak the machine accelerates and pulls the pair of them forwards across the open terrain. Rhea is shocked at first when she feels Krieg's muscles tensing she knows he has control and trusts in INC as they travel over the open plain. A few minutes in and she is smiling in enjoyment as this unorthodox method is thrilling as well as dangerous though she screams with laughter every time there is a jump.

The time they spent fighting the enemy they had made up by using this method of travel and by the time they were heading down the valley Krieg is quick to put the brakes on as he didn't want any unexpected surprises like before. When the machine stops completely, Rhea hops off and Krieg lets go of the ropes so INC can function normally. Rhea takes her weapon out fitted with all attachments while Krieg has travelled this whole time without a firearm. He fits his coat back to normal and looks down towards where he believes the entrance is.

"That small but insignificant opening is where we need to go. Keep close." Krieg says ready to walk.

"I handle myself now, Krieg." Rhea says causing Krieg nod in understanding.

"I know, but for old times' sake. This place has reputation for being hard to leave." he says walking down towards the entrance.

As they get closer and closer things seem to become more closed in and the pair focuses on their objective. INC scans the area for hostiles though its scanner is picking up unusual reading. Something was watching the pair again only these weren't the average drone but something far worse. Krieg stops in his tracks and lets his tongue out to help smell the presence around them though the stench of death was strong.

"What is it?" Rhea asks aim her weapon towards anywhere visible.

"Strange. I thought I destroyed them all."

"Krieg, stop being so fucking elusive and tell me what's going on!" she orders though her answer comes from behind her as she turns to see a husked vorcha Krinal created run at her. She shoots it in the head and it falls by her feet only for Krieg to use a biotic push on the asari to keep her away from the following blast. When she stands she looks at on the melting remnants, "What the fuck are they?"

"There drones of a being that is far greater in magnitude than Krinal ever will be. Rhea, when we enter the lair, listen to me and don't talk. The world in there isn't safe for small talk. We find Krinal and I ask him the questions."

Rhea is offened and quickly objects, "Hey wait a minute."

"No! You wait! I have been searching for a whole year for the truth and Krinal is the last piece, when I have what I need, we'll destroy him." Krieg orders in rage though after the last word realises he's gone too far, "Sorry, my mind is more emotional than it used to be. I get angry easily nowadays."

"You think?" Rhea replies not helping but defending her attitude, "I wanted to go back to the Malal but you had to come here unprepared."

"I've been prepared for months!" Krieg shouts before breathing heavily and sitting on an old engine, "If you listen to me now, will you help me?"

Rhea crosses her arms and doesn't know what to think anymore as her friend is showing signs of aggression he's never expressed, "Only if you tell truth to me."

Krieg looks up confused, "The truth?"

Rhea shows signs of frustration, "Everything. I want to know about Shanxi and you journey and what the fuck is going on."

Krieg looks down and sees himself in a piece of reflective metal and smiles, "When I was in the K-Thousand project I was replaced by a clone, you know this. What I didn't tell you was that Krinal intended to transport me to Korlus. However I escaped and landed on a world that would become the staging ground of an incident."

"Humanity's first contact?"

He nods, "A few locals found me and helped me recover and in return they gave me a set of N7 armour they recovered. Wearing it as a disguise I fought the turians and escaped with the MSV Angel. Some of those I knew back then have mysteriously dissappeared."

"You fought the turians? Why didn't you just escape?" she shouts as her late boyfriend Thalian died in the First Contact War.

"Because I felt kinship with them?" he replies in anger, "They were like me, new, unknown, not a threat, just misunderstood. I returned when the war ended because I couldn't escape the blockade. There, that's the truth of Shanxi."

Rhea turns to INC, "Did you know all of this?"

"Negative: Krieg only installed certain information but not all." It reveals.

She turns back to the grey alien, "Why did you leave the second time? Where did you go?"

"I returned to Shanxi because the bounty hunter that tried to kill me was hired there. I originally believed that the person was hired by either Krinal or the Scythe but I was wrong. Krinal hired him and sent him to his death because he was a spy on behalf of others."

"Okay." She says pacing from one end of his sight to another, "You know, I met Bylok a few weeks ago. Seemed he wanted to kill me in revenge for you killing his wife. Was that true?" she gets nothing but a nod, "And that dress you gave me, was it hers?" and he responds with a second yes before her eyes begin to water, "Why?"

"I panicked. I never thought I would murder but I guess I was wrong." he lifts his head up, "Despite what I've done Rhea. Help me."

Rhea stands firm though lifts his rifle to her chest, "Why should I help you?"

Krieg shakes his head, "Don't think about using that weapon Rhea, I'll beat you."

"You want to add me to your murder list as well." She says cynically.

His expression turns to innocence, "I would never hurt you. You're the one thing in my life that keeps me going. But there is something more important at stake."

"Then tell me what it is?" she shouts.

Krieg calms down and gets on his feet, "Doctor Thenas collected much DNA from me with intent on breeding superior asari. She wasn't the only one. Krinal has a supply and so does another organisation, who took it from Scythe unexpectedly." He turns around and faces the entrance, "Tell me, did ever encounter and assassin with an orange insignia?"

The question is familiar to Rhea as Krinal had stated to kill this assassin, "I did, not long before Bylok died. I never caught him."

"That assassin's name is Darkhare and he works for an organisation called Cerberus." He reveals and shows his knowledge of the organisation, "Cerberus are a human supremacist group headed by the Illusive Man. This man found some caches containing my DNA and like Krinal wants me alive so he perform experiments on humanity, just like the Duchess."

"Then why are we here then?" Rhea asks in upmost frustration.

"Because Krinal has succeeded where both of them failed. The Emissary has won by building a perfect clone of myself before all this." He reveals referring to his face.

Rhea looks at him and realises this means more than killing and suffering, "You don't want to kill it do you?"

"Never. Rhea, it's a child. Krinal has made a child with just my DNA." He states and is concerned with this, "Don't you see? I want to free it."

"From what?"

"From this! This life!" He shouts waves at everything around him, "This child has the opportunities all of you take for granted, a childhood, experiencing life without any purpose, without control by another."

Rhea realises that Krieg is searching for this child rather than Krinal and sympathizes due to Krieg being fully grown when they first met and no recollection beforehand, "Why didn't you tell me this before? I would've helped without question."

He turns away from her, "You don't understand."

Rhea immediately holds his arm to turn him around, "Then make me understand."

Krieg faces her and sighs as this is a new situation for him, "Rhea, one day you'll want a family and you can decide when that is. I don't have a choice, I'm a father and not ready."

Rhea sees that he is stressed and knows that despite all they've been through together his reasons are not about himself. She can help him firstly him by simply giving him an embrace he has longed for. He holds onto her as they hug in the dust and stench of the corpses around them while waiting to confront their enemy.

Brutagus is inside of the war room of the Malal with Ecroy as they take a look at the planet that houses Krinal and his army. The unimpressive sphere was their target like Krieg and Rhea before them but they didn't know what they would find within the lair and were left blind. Enti is entering the room and the quarian wasn't exactly in his best condition as the turian looks at his stance and he is tired and stressed about the many things on his mind.

The Captain leans again the central hologram and looks at the planet, "I've been to Korlus a few times but it's always been risky. The place is crawling with Merc bands and ambushes are common."

"That's why we're thinking about going in with just a few bodies." Bruatgus says zooming in onto the northern hemisphere, "The Shipyard Cemetery is the perfect place to hide. When we get there we'll be able to track the missing shuttle and see where the pair are heading."

"Maybe we should decide who is going. We are and so are Garahie and Yentha but we're in need of two more." Ecroy says looking at Enti.

Enti knows that he has the power to choose, "All-Feather. I can't afford either Difan or Zeki leaving at this time."

"Okay. Do you think Tido will want to come?" Brutagus says to Ecroy who only gives a shrug in response.

Enti sits on a nearby stool, "When you take the shuttle we will head to another location. Being in human territory puts me on edge a little."

"Don't worry, we plan to leave as soon as possible. Besides, Filestra has done her side of the bargain. I like to be of my word also." Bruatgus says as the younger turian has helped.

"We'll make sure she is transported. What of the other turian though? We've been keeping him prisoner here and he won't talk." Enti asks as Dexillius' uses are limited.

"We'll think of something." Ecroy says before relooking at their plans.

Krieg is inside the secret elevator with Rhea and INC as the grey alien is imputing a code within the keypad. Rhea leans on the wall and lights a cigarette which she hasn't had for a while due to the swift nature of her friend. When he finishes and sees that they are moving down towards Krinal's lair as he turns and sees the cigarette to his surprise.

"What?" Rhea wonders though he is looking at the cigarette, "I told you a lot has changed."

Krieg leans against the wall, "Not too much I hope."

"Listen, Krieg. Since you've been away I have collected some allies to help me. Not the best kind but they're helping. They may come after we're done here." She reveals.

Krieg looks down as he hasn't worked with many others apart from Rhea, "I take it All-Feather is with them along with a member of Agon's troop." Rhea is surprised that he knows this, "They haven't been completely honest with you I'm afraid. Not long after I left I met Agon again with his superior, Lord Tovoh. I needed information on a person called the Veteran and they gave it to me."

Rhea lsitens and comes to a swift conclusion, "So, Ecroy knew you all along."

"No, not personally. I needed to find the Veteran because he was a link between the krogan who exiled themselves from the galaxy and Krinal."

"What did you find?"

Krinal looks round though what he says will most likely be heard, "Krinal has been responsible for hiding these krogan from the Scythe. I don't know why but this news is more confusing. The Veteran lives on Tuchanka and wouldn't leave his place but he did give the location of Krinal and revealed that he was in fact Krinal's first Acolyte even before the Emissary became part of the Scythe."

"Then Krinal infiltrated the Scythe. What would be the point?"

"It has something to do with me. I'm connected to the asari Scythe and Krinal wished me not be, maybe it has plans of its own." Krinal hypothesises.

"Do you think we'll find out here?" Rhea wonders.

"I don't know. The child is all that's important now. I can't worry too much about my past with this at stake." He reveals before hearing the elevator stop, "Looks like we're here."

The elevator door opens to the five-way balcony and below is the nest of Krinal's Daughter, the giant spider-drone built for harvesting. The two are careful and quiet with Rhea holding her weapon while Krieg orders INC to stay above them. Rhea keeps guard though the silence is disturbing to her as this place was too quiet considering its size. She peaks down below and can only see the faint lines of where the machine dwells but no movement comes from beneath. The pair however does not suspect that the enemy was directly underneath them within the central plaza. The ten-legged spider keeps still while Krieg and Rhea walk above to and the monster analyses the enemy.

Krieg turns to her, "Head to that station with INC. It's the research labs." He says and his glare gives the indication that he's aware of who is beneath.

Rhea doesn't question the grey alien as both she and the machine head quickly towards the opposite door from where the elevator was. She makes good time until a bolt of strange liquid flies through the air and hits the door, covering it with a freezing agent. She turns to see that the Daughter has chosen the asari as its target. It climbs from underneath across the bridge.

Rhea fires a few rounds before she sees Krieg leaping onto the machine and distracting it. Krieg reaches behind his lower back underneath his jack to pull out a knife and increase the heat of the blade to stab the machine. He is successful in penetrating the head but it does little more than distract the spider as it refers to different tactics.

Rhea watches as spider falls off the platform and into its lair and Krieg following. "Krieg!" she shouts as both fade away below. When she turns she sees that INC has heated the freezing agent with its turrets and opens the elevator for them both. She rushes in and sits against the wall, "Not again. We have to find him."

"Suggestion: Krieg objective is to recover the child. We should continue."

Meanwhile Krieg is still falling down the Daughter's lair and the darkness was making things a bit more difficult for him as he grabs an object but it breaks immediately. Still falling he knocks his back again amore solid object and moves into another. As he makes contact he grabs this and holds while he recovers from the drop. It's not before long that the Daughter attacks and with Krieg impaired vision is knocked down easily down to the floor at the bottom.

After that smaller thirty foot drop the grey alien is lying on his back and sits up while loosening himself up for the fight. He takes off his goggles to get a better look as his vision was more nocturnal based. Though not the best night-vision he is able to see that the thing he latched onto had fallen a few yards from him and was in the shape of krogan armour. The Daughter however was quiet again and looking straight at Krieg from her web above but the panic is shown from the machine when Krieg stares back and spots her.

Rhea puts her head in her hands and wipes her face and nods briefly before the pair are again unprepared to enter the next room. The research labs were more akin to prisons as rows and rows of living test subjects are stacked on top of each other with the path leading towards a section of test labs. The room was full of sentient aliens from asari to vorcha and were all in a state of daze and almost indifferent as they don't notice Rhea in front of them.

"What is this place?" she asks herself holding her weapon closely, "What is Krinal doing?"

As the pair treks down the walkway and see what Krinal has been doing she doesn't notice that she catches someone's eye. On the fourth row up on her left side was a quarian who wore a black suit with blue straps and looked more like a flotilla quarian but as the alien looks through the glass he recognises the face below and even though he is unrecognisable he keeps track of her movements.

"You! Down there! Let me out!" he shouts and the asari looks up to him, "I know you. You got me into this mess. You're the girl from the Citadel. Don't you remember me?"

Rhea sends INC up to investigate and the machine scans the quarian through the glass to identify him. The files are adamant when the name Chek'Malal appears, "Information: This is Chek'Malal."

"Get him out!" she orders and INC begins piercing the glass with a laser, "Chek? I know you brother, Difan."

Chek can hear partially but recognises his brother's name, "You know Difan? Where is he?"

"He's on you father's ship with his wife." She informs.

"He's married. Fuck, I have been in here too long." He says before climbing out and holding onto INC for safety.

When he is lowered down he confronts Rhea, "How long have you been here?"

"Almost two years. My cousin Yero captured me and gave me to this Krinal. He pledged his service if he gets my father's ship." He says before looking up to the others who were in less well condition, "They feed us and we watch their experiments. I've seen so many tortured. I was lucky I was a political prisoner of sorts. Tell me, how is my family?"

Rhea takes her hood off and weakly smiles, "They're fine. Difan married a friend of mine and we're staying on you ship. Even your friend Tido is with us."

Chek looks away immediately, "Tido, that bastard is with them? He has a lot of nerve."

Rhea as a friend and lover of Tido is confused by the quarian's manner, "What are you talking about? He's been helping me for a year alongside your family."

Chek turns and points to Rhea's chest, "And he abandoned me! When Yero hired muscle to capture me he fled. He didn't know it was my cousin but he abandoned me after years of friendship and trust."

"That's why he didn't what to talk about it." She says remembering that the drell was avoiding Chek as a subject, "Maybe there's and explanation? Yero was working with us until he betrayed Tido to Krinal."

"That makes sense. Yero is covering his tracks. I think he wanted Tido out the way encase he discovered something." Chek says before looking over towards the research labs, "What are you doing here? This isn't the type of place you go sightseeing."

Rhea escorts the quarian towards the research labs while informing him of the situation, "My friend brought me here and he was looking for something. Did you ever see what was going on here?"

"Well, some of it was familiar. That grey thing I killed with Tido and Yanlo on the Citadel. Krinal was cloning them and from what I heard from his alien guards was dissecting them as well." He says as one of the only sane people within the lair.

"Why?"

"Do I look like the type of person who would know that?" Chek says before examining the locked door but also taking a look through the window inside, "Listen, give me your omni-tool and I'll help download as much information as I can."

Rhea gives it to him but stays on topic, "What about a child? Did hear about a child?"

"No, but they were talking about a test subject about a year ago. Maybe that's it." Chek says not knowing much himself.

"Help me and I'll get you back to your ship." Rhea asks of him and gets a nod in return.

"Deal. All I need is this and I can do anything." He says looking at the omni-tool and then to INC who is privy to the whole conversation, "That's an AI."

"You know?" Rhea looks at INC and knows only a few actually see it as an AI program.

"You had directed it to me and not had to give an actual command. I won't question it but be aware. There are many of drones that look like this here." He warns while opening the door and allowing her to enter first.

The research labs didn't have anything significant about them as more of the chairs and tables were cleaned and looked unused but the consoles on the other side of the room did have some use as Chek immediately gets to work and opens the technology. Rhea looks into a restricted area of the labs but through the window only sees a small walkway leading to some other room. Chek continues downloading data before opening some of the files first-hand on the console to reveal what exactly has been going on.

The visual are disturbing as it involves Krinal's drones doing experiments with Dragon's Teeth which are used to convert organics into husks and while watching he opens a file to reveal the vorcha that had been husked and were witnessed by Filestra, Yox and Delphine.

"Come over here, I've found something." He says and Rhea looks at the visuals, "Since I've been here there have been vorcha coming in here and not coming out. This is what they've been doing."

"I haven't seen that type of technology before." Rhea says before typing into the console, "Project: K-1001? That must be it, no wait." She says before typing in a bit more, "No, these are the clones of Krieg. Krinal has only cloned eleven. The child must be something else."

"What is this child?" Chek asks curiously.

"I'm not sure but my friend wants to take it away from Krinal." She says before a sound comes from the restricted area.

Rhea pulls her weapon forward and INC gets its turrets ready. The three prepare themselves as the first set of doors seems to unhinge and open with banging heard from the other side. As Rhea readies herself she hears that the thing on the other side isn't alone and there were many trying to get to them. It's not until then that a hand appears on the window and it is a vorcha only this hand was paler and going grey as it punches the glass in attempt to break through.

Krieg is climbing up the web and with pace as his new method of travel is proving useful and his sight is helping navigate him. The lower area of this lair had many holes to climb through but because of the size of the Daughter, Krieg could merely walk through them. He knows that the machine is hiding somewhere and when he reaches a nexus point stops and waits.

He stays still and breaths slowly to help him use his senses better but when the sound of something coming to his left becomes more prominent he jumps. The Daughter leaps though misses Krieg by inches while the alien hangs off another web. The spider uses the webs for balance and turns itself around to face the enemy but he is nowhere to be seen.

Krieg has dropped below to confuse it despite wanting to get on top over it. He quietly takes off his jacket while hanging from one hand and switches before letting the cloth drop. The sound of it falling catches the Daughter's attention and it leaps for it while Krieg leaps for her. When she captures it within her front teeth she feels no body and stops by expanding her legs to catch any loose webs.

Krieg however lands on her back and forces her below onto the ground as wrestles on top of her so he can retrieve his knife. He stands on his feet and balances himself while the machine attempts to shake him off again only this time Krieg is more prepared and jumps as she turns around to face him, he grabs his knife and swings back onto her.

He uses his strength to direct the knife to the left and disorientates the Daughter when she stumbles into the wall. Pulling the knife out he then reaches for another piece of equipment that had fell out of his coat when he dropped it. It was a pole of some kind though it had rubber handles and a sleek grey shaft. He press a button the pole and it extends to a length of a spear and Krieg attaches the knife to end.

This was his weapon of choice as he holds his spear and ready's himself. The Daughter stands though is now aware that the grey alien is armed and a threat so instead off leaping towards him she moves slowly and uses her front legs as weapons.

Krieg dodges left and then jumps to avoid an attempted sweep but the Daughter is set on destroying him. She changes tactics quickly and begins climbing back up to the webbing but an unexpected throw of Krieg's spear cuts one of the webs so she falls back down. Krieg use his biotics to pull the spear back into his hand and leaps onto the Daughter's underbelly. He impales her once though it isn't enough as she spins a web from her rear and pulls herself towards the wall while Krieg lands and rolls back onto his feet.

He turns to see that the Daughter is charging towards him and rolls out the way and then waves his spear while on one knee to catch a leg of the machine. It stumbles and Krieg climbs onto it using the leg. He then proceeds to stab it again with his spear but as he does the Daughter release web and shoots it upwards. When it garbs the roof where they started she reacts herself upwards with Krieg hanging in front of her.

The movement prevents her from attacking properly as Krieg still has some space to lean away from as she bites towards him. As he kicks her away a final time he pulls himself above his spear and places his feet on her back. This allows him safe passage to the top and takes his weapon before leaping to the balcony.

Pulling himself back onto the walkway the Daughter is still below but climbs over to the other side. When she lands they are both within the central plaza and the alien continues to look for weaknesses. She leaps towards him and he dives under her while getting back to his feet when she turns and attempts to stomp him. Krieg uses the blunt end of his spear to knock the first leg and then the spear head to the second attack. He continues using his spear for both offensive and defensive until he is driven back towards the balcony and is leaning against the side.

The Daughter forces herself onto him as he impales her underbelly again and the two have reached a stalemate. Krieg isn't giving up however as he leans back and uses his energy and biotics to pull the spider over the balcony heads back down towards her lair.

The first thing he does his stand on her belly while falling and pulls his spear out. He then separates himself from her and creates a distance so they are both falling but he is on top. He then channels his energy through the spear as he throws it like javelin towards the machine. The weapon which has the force of both Krieg's physical power and biotics through it reaches her with heavy pace and hits the Daughter in her underbelly only this time it penetrates through to the other side and carries on to the ground.

Krieg smiles as he sees the Daughter fall to its demise but then realises he is falling too and tries to find something to grab. We most of webbing gone he uses what left of his biotic to lower himself down slowly but so much energy went into his last attack that his power is jolting and he slows for periods before hitting a krogan corpse hanging from a web and lands on his back only a few yards away from the Daughter, which is now deactivated.

Krinal sits in its lair and ponders over battle it has just saw using camera hidden within. It sits and watches as spider drones scour the grey alien and carry him towards an entrance opening in front of him. When the doors shut the only thing left within the lair is the Daughter itself and from Krinal's movement it mourned for the most admired creation within the army it created.

The Emissary wasn't alone however as Shanol and Aqualas had both returned and Jotan, Juna and Sinatrrio were present as well with the batarian impressed of how the fight came out. Krinal turns and hops off the chair and closes the screens in front of it and sees the group ready for what is to come while Sintarrio remains concerned.

The Emissary speaks, "He has arrived. Prepare to transport him into the chamber, he deserves to see his legacy."

"What of the asari?" Sinatrrio asks curiously as Rhea had a horde of husked vorcha to deal with.

"Who cares?" Juna says dismisses it as not a problem, "She can rot. We have what we need."

Sintarrio looks at his lover concerned though remains passive, "Emissary, if what you say is true. Can we really avoid them?"

Krinal nods, "We can. Now is the time I have been waiting for. Everything is coming into place." He looks to its Acolytes, "Do not worry about Rhea and the quarian, they will find us." It says leading the trio out of its lair and into the elevator.

"I'll head to the Zenith and inform them to move the fleet." Jotan informs and nods to his superior.

"Good. Shanol, Aqualas, you will accompany me to my chamber and witness my plans." It responds.

Rhea and Chek are running back towards the elevator within the Research Labs and past the numerous cages keeping aliens within. INC flies backwards and fires its turrets at the vorcha though the group are too numerous and are pacing quickly. Chek is first to reach the door and opens it for Rhea and INC and is last to enter before using the omni-tool to seal the lock. As he does a vorcha's arm reaches through and is cut off by the slamming door but the group retreat away from it. Rhea is concerned that like the one Krieg threw her away from it would explode.


	41. The Destined Plunge: Part II

**Chapter XLI: The Destined Plunge: Part II**

**01/02/2161- Korlus, Imir System, Eagle Nebula**

Krinal enters the chamber that it intends to display its masterpiece as Shanol and Aqualas follow. The room itself was spherical and had only one level of platforms with the walls jet black and the only light coming from the middle platform but also the surrounding four miniature platforms with each one having a purpose. The roof was covered in wiring and cables meaning a huge amount of power was being generated into this room.

From where they walk in, the platform closest to their left was a machine that stood on an apparatus, circular with twelve conduits surrounding it. The floor panelling resembled a circle cut into twelve sections with blue lights in between each piece. Next to this machine was a generator and wiring that lead to the platform next to it.

This platform was more mysterious as the pod that stood there resembled a pod that would also be used by Okeer years later in creating Grunt. The pod however was covered in one-way glass that couldn't be seen from the outside and contents remained anonymous. The pod had various wires implanted into it which connected to the other apparatus on its right making a connection in Krinal's experiment.

On the pods left platform was Krieg himself who had been strapped to a wall by the hands and feet with a strap across his chest for re-enforcement. The grey alien wasn't conscious as the fight with the Daughter was a hard one though the machines around him were monitoring his condition while next to his platform was a simple escape route for the Emissary, consisting of a tube with no elevator.

Krinal looks at Krieg and is amazed of how this alien has transformed through the years, "You impress me, Krieg. Who would ever think your mutation would be an asset?" the machine walks closer to the alien and observes him, "I have waited a long time for this moment. It didn't start with you awakening. I found you years before but you were incomplete. If I hadn't have been hasty you wouldn't be like this."

Krieg hears the voice and awakens, looking up to the machine and opens his mouth to reveal his tongue, "Where is the child?"

"This disturbs you? You can't believe that I perfected your DNA and made it possible to clone you. But I've done so much more. From the beginning I discovered you, I have recreated the contents of the pod and the DNA from scratch in order to make a separate body, a different person." It reveals before continuing, "I wasn't always like this, Krieg. My history and yours are intertwined since the beginning."

"The beginning?" Krieg asks though has no recollection.

"You have dreams? Nightmares of creatures beyond your grasp?" it says before turning away, "They are the apex of sentient life yet they are so limited."

"The Reapers? I've heard of them. Old Prothean carving depicts monsters destroying them, I know." Krieg reveals and knowing the great secret of the galaxy.

"Then you realise why I am doing this?" Krinal says turning around towards him, "Krieg, you are unique beyond your ability. Your mind is smart but yet you have feral traits that make impossible to control. That is your strength and organic life's weakness. The Reaper's want you for testing but now I know what Scythe intended. I ruined its plan." It turns to him, "Yes, the missing link to all of this lies with my enemy."

INC, Rhea and Chek are stuck within the elevator and the group are still looking at the active vorcha arm to see if it will explode. The arm had been husked yet despite being removed it was still functional, crawling towards the pair. Rhea shoots it but it has only little effect until INC releases a shot from its turrets and disintegrates the limb in front of them. Rhea leans against the wall and breathes heavily as this wasn't what she expected from the base.

When a significant amount of time passes they see the elevator doors open and the pair walk out to the five-ways plaza once again only this time the place was quiet and had no feeling of threats. They walk to the central plaza and the asari looks for any traces of Krieg but unknown to her the grey alien fell and had been taken by Krinal.

She turns to INC, "Can you scan the area for Krieg?" she asks and INC displays a map on the floor of the area to reveal that the Daughter was lying destroyed at the bottom with only Krieg's jacket but his body and spear was gone, "Can you show a map of the whole area?"

Chek takes a look at the map and sees that it is incomplete, "The map is missing a piece. The pit underneath shows no signs of ventilation though there has to be."

"Krieg may be down there." She says focusing on this point.

"Well he isn't. Your friend can't detect any signals or organic signatures." He looks over to one of the elevators and points, "That door looks like it heads to Krinal's lair. I would go that way."

Rhea stands and turns to INC, "Get Chek back to the shuttle quickly."

"Sorry but you're going to need help with this." Chek insists.

"Chek, you father and brother have both been looking for you for years. I think you owe them a visit." She says and the quarian regretfully nods, "Take my omni-tool and go back to the shuttle, head for Malal and tell them we're here." She orders and both INC and Chek head for where Rhea and Krieg came from while she turns to the door opposite and heads for Krinal's personal quarters.

She doesn't expect however for someone to exit the elevator as Juna had been waiting to confront the asari for a long time. Though the turian walks out in disguise as a beautiful member of her species she quickly reverts to a form more familiar causing Rhea to hold up her weapon and look in disbelief as she didn't recognise her all this time. Juna had been on the Citadel and Aite before this though wearing the disguises of Palin and Brutagus before settling for a more familiar form.

Rhea gets a good look as she is driven back to the central plaza, "Juna? You're dead."

"I still am." She says walking and looking over the balcony, "I'm impressed that you escaped the vorcha, they've been erratic for some time."

The asari keeps her weapon aimed at the turian, "How are you even alive? I heard you were-"

"Shot through the head. I know, I saw the reports, like my lover before me I was revived by Krinal and pledged my service." She says pulling out a pistol and holding it but with no intention of firing.

"But you can change into other turians? You've been fighting me all this time." Rhea realises as she didn't know it was Juna playing those roles.

"Yes." she assures while circling her. "Krinal saw my potential when I captured Krieg and didn't want me wasted so it revived me. And with this new body, I can be whoever I want." She says before changing back into her beautiful form. She fires a bullet towards her but misses and Rhea rolls to the left, "You can't beat me alone, Rhea. And your friends can't save you now."

Rhea stands and faces the former spectre and knows that without support she can't win, "Where is my friend?"

"Krieg, he's safe. In fact if you come with me you'll get to see something special." she offers and knows that the asari will take it because it plays on her emotions. Rhea nods and is directed the elevator she intended to enter.

Where they are heading is the room where Krinal taunts Krieg with its Acolytes. The grey alien has yet to be informed of what Krinal's plans are for him and at the same time what is his place in all of this. The machine is on the platform where the pod is and is doing some last-minute calibrations while the elcor and hanar Acolyte-combined keeps watch of the grey alien.

Krieg looks to the elevator where they came from for it opens and reveals Rhea with Juna behind and the weapon placed into her back as she is escorted down towards the plaza and then up to Krieg. Rhea looks at her friend and nods in respect while the two watch as Krinal turns and faces them both.

"Ah, the happy couple. You two are perfect to witness perfection at hand." It says with pride.

"Perfection? Anything that upgrades that piece of junk you walk around in has to be an improvement." She says before Juna hits her in the back and falls to the floor.

Krinal looks at the asari and through its machined appearance it still can give off a sense of superiority. It decides that now is time to reveal what is underneath the cloak. It starts by removing its head which despite its look was merely a set-piece as it is discarded while the Emissary walks down the ramp towards the middle of the room. The cloak then burns off the machine which has been worn for centuries and underneath is the true head of Emissary.

The head looked dome-shell and smaller than a drone under its command but under the chassis spurted twelve tentacles which made its arms and legs as they separated from the groups of three they were in and elongate as it towers above them all.

"I am Emissary Krinal in almost glory but now my form will enhance to something greater." It says though Krieg isn't convinced.

"Whatever you're planning, you still haven't told me my purpose." Krieg states frustrated.

A light coughing can be heard before it speaks, "Indeed. That was even beyond their understanding and mine. That's why I needed you, to discover your purpose in their plan."

"Then why work for Nazara, wouldn't it want that goal as well." Krieg asks referring to Sovereign by its programming name.

"The Reapers have their goal, nothing more, nothing less. Scythe wishes to return to its former glory, it never will now you are lost to it. Nazara tasked me to infiltrate the Scythe on the Reapers behalf to discover the true nature of their goals. Their history is almost tragic."

"How did the Scythe begin?" Rhea wonders still not fully convinced.

"During the golden age of asari space travel, many Matriarchs went deep into space to never return. One never returned because she found an object and it took over her mind. The Matriarch, known as Tilitha would found the Scythe after its corruptor was safely installed within a hidden location."

"So Scythe is a Reaper? Like Nazara?" Krieg concludes.

"No, Scythe is merely a fragment of a Reaper destroyed and trying to get back to its former allies. Five objects were released and over the millions of years it acted in unison, collecting information of various species, including my own." It reveals.

Krieg thinks to himself and wonders whether or not he can guess who Krinal is, "You're a prothean?"

A silence is heard by both of them, "Was a prothean, but my lover's legacy was taken from us by Scythe and it used my knowledge to generate a plan. In return I isolated it from the galaxy and it became desperate, desperate enough to enlist the asari and enact a new plan."

"Take over the galaxy by force?" Rhea says before looking at Krieg in agreement.

"It intended to use Krieg in some form but only Scythe itself knows his inner working and how he will benefit its cause." Krinal states.

"Then how did you manage to use my DNA?" Krinal wonders and is strangely curious.

"Your DNA wasn't hard to copy with your location found and thousands of years at my disposal. You location was known to me and Scythe but with the time I had I built a new DNA sequence with you as a template. Clones can only do so much but as you will see now, I will be more powerful in my new form." It says and showing its true longevity.

"What about my child?" Krieg shouts in anger.

"The child is safe for now. Breeding her wasn't difficult after building a new shell. Delphine's 'work' came into use after all and now you will see the final product." It's says before walking on its twelve legs towards the platform with the circular apparatus and twelve conduits. The machine implants a tentacle into each conduit and the Emissary remains hovering. "Juna, enter the initiation sequence."

Juna looks at Rhea just as confused as she walks over towards the pod and types in a code to begin the procedure. Krinal sees that the lights around the circle are become more illuminated and a similar event is happening in the pod on the neighbouring platform, "Witness the marvel you are about to see." It says before hovering upwards and higher above ground, "Assuming control of this form!"

With that, a surge enters both through the pod and the apparatus Krinal is attached to and despite the display being not so dramatic it confuses all in the room. Juna steps back as the pod begins showing signs of life within and to Shanol and Aqualas they know better and move back while the procedure is continuing. Krieg and Rhea watch as the light becomes brighter and to the point where the pod is blinding.

There is abrupt stop and the Emissary's shell falls to the ground and shuts down immediately. Juna runs over to the body of the machine and looks at it with disbelief as there was no life within it whatsoever. She turns when the sound of the pod opening catches her attention and runs to see what has just transpired.

Both she, Shanol and Aqualas witness something they thought impossible as an organic life-form steps out of the pod willingly and reveals itself to be more than just a corpse. The it was alien like Krieg only this was female and 'complete' compared to Krieg as it had many years to build itself and retained the same features that Krieg had when he first awoke. Comparing it with other aliens it looked like a human only thinner with absence of ears and it black eyes though hers had white irises and black pupils.

The female wore black clothing consisting of high-heeled boots and skin tight pants with a tube-top covering her breasts but revealing her abdomen. She also wore a fingerless sleeve on her right arm and a glove on her left. The three are confused of what to make of this as even they weren't sure what Krinal was planning beforehand.

The figure looks at them and smiles, "You seem confused, don't you recognise you Emissary." It says in a soft feminine voice.

"But you're a machine? Or were?" Juna says almost in awe of her leader's new appearance.

Krinal smiles as she walks to Juna and rubs her face, "I was living, then machine, and now I'm much more." She inhales the air around her and smiles, "I've missed feeling the gases in my lungs, the touch of another's skin on mine. At last I feel." She says before looking at Krieg and a horrified Rhea.

Krieg looks at the alien and can't help feeling some sort of confusion for like most people he expected Krinal to have been a man but he was proven wrong as she approaches the restrained male and puts her hands on his shoulder, "This is impossible. You, how? You built this?"

"I'm everything you want, Krieg. I created this body from the ground up and it's genetically different to yours. I have all your strength but none of your weakness, I can even carry you children and I did." She says while rubbing her noise against his, "This body went through so much but I experienced her birth. She's beautiful Krieg and she ours."

Krieg turns his face away from her, "You built this…body years ago within obtained information on me and then when I awoke, you ejected my sperm into it. Now it makes sense."

"She won't gain your mutation, Krieg. She's perfect. We have chance to make something special in the galaxy. We can destroy our enemy and raise many children alone and away from the Reapers, build something powerful." she ensures though Rhea looks at her unconvinced.

Krieg laughs at the image but with distaste and irony, "I am beyond that, Krinal. My heart belongs to someone else. I will never love you, you're a freak and all I care for now is my daughter."

Krinal's face turns to anger and slaps Krieg across his scaled face, "I offer you all of it, and yet you still stand with this bitch? I can't believe this; after all we've been through. Juna, put her out of her misery."

Juna points her pistol at Rhea and they watch as the turian is about to fire. After a few seconds Juna can't seem to pull the trigger, "I, I can't. Something's stopping me."

Krinal turns to a smiling Krieg, "Don't try and get into my mind Krieg, I'm better than you."

"I don't intend to." He says as he directs Juna to point the pistol at Krinal. Before she can fire Krinal biotically pushes her away and turns to see that Krieg can still perform physical biotic tricks as he pushes her back towards her former body.

Krinal recovers and sees Rhea helping her friend unlock one of his handcuffs but the female grey alien intervenes and knocks her away. Krieg however manages to break the remaining lock and quickly unstraps himself in order to fight his enemy's new form. Shanol and Aqualas focus on Rhea as the pair travel over. The two aliens lock the asari on to the floor using their tentacles as a cage. Krieg sees this and shifts his focus as he jumps on top of them and pulls two of Aqualas tentacles off the ground allowing Rhea to escape.

Krinal however isn't in mood to fight as she heads towards the elevator and is followed by Juna, "Our business is done here. I'm setting the self-destruct sequence?"

"What about the other Acolytes?" Juna wonders.

"They'll be warned. Send a message to Outpost K-3 and order Yox and Delphine to evacuate to the Zenith." She orders before she jumps into the tube and the air punches her upwards and is followed by the turian.

Krieg wrestles with Aqualas top-side while Shanol attempts to kill Rhea below. The pair have to work together in order to defeat this strange combination. Krieg jumps off and scans the room for his compact-spear which he assumes was retrieved with his body. He looks to where Krinal's old shell was and sees the grey object on a nearby desk as he approaches the weapon and pulls it out of its restraints, opening it to optimum function. He also sees Rhea's weapon on the same desk and shoots the elcor's back to get its attention. Rhea uses this opportunity to retrieve her weapon as Krieg throws it to her and the pair quickly prepares themselves.

Rhea walks backwards up to the higher ground of where the pod was and aims at the shell of Shanol while Krieg focus of incoming attacks from Aqualas' legs. Krieg moves in the same way he did against the Daughter and dodges most of the razor-pointed limbs before being knocked down by a sneak attack from behind, whipping him off his feet and the elcor punching him to the ground.

In order to protect his body, Krieg dropped his spear beforehand and holds the strong fist of the giant alien only centimetres above him and uses his physical strength to push him off but the cybernetic augmentation is greater in power. Rhea shoots towards the fist before aiming for the elbow not long after where there is an exposed underlayer and Krieg rolls to his right when the elcor falls heavily to ground.

Krieg picks up his spear and defends against Aqualas again as the hanar's legs were facing directly at him. The grey alien jumps and then ducks before waving his spear and cutting a tentacle off the hanar but lucky for the organic that the limb was a synthetic extension. Shanol gets back to his feet and charges in Krieg's direction but he dives and Rhea fires a shot towards the elcor's face and the blurs his vision. He runs off the platform but Aqualas pushes them back up and as they turn Rhea uses a warp to bring them to a central spot.

Krieg takes over as he then biotic slams the pair on the ground and before they can recover he sends a shockwave across to them. The pair are once again hurled into the air but not before Krieg lifts Rhea on top of them and as they come down the asari fires at will in their uncovered or damaged areas and both express pain. She jumps out the way as Krieg jumps throwing his spear and the weapon goes through both Aqualas and then Shanol while the elcor lies belly down on the ground.

He climbs the pair and pulls out the spear before rendezvousing with Rhea, "Well, that was unexpected."

"Thanks for sticking with me, Krieg. You could've left with her." Rhea says hugging her friend with no hesitation.

"She might be the same as me but I feel nothing for her. To me, she is still a machine." He states before and explosion can be heard and he is led by Rhea to the exit their enemy left beforehand.

**2185- Rhea's Safhouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Assuming direct control? That was what Harbinger said when controlling a collector." Joker recalls as the reaper would say that and control the collector on the battlefield.

"I know. Krinal had used a more custom design to implant its consciousness inside the body. It became a 'she' in a few seconds." Rhea says while sipping a glass of wine, "Me and Krieg escaped the base but we weren't finished there for a while."

"You still hadn't found this girl?" Joker asks now convinced of her knowledge of the reapers after days.

Rhea laughs at his enthusiasm as he had been a bit sceptical about her at first, "No, ironically she was the daughter of both Krinal and Krieg. It's a strange twist of fate really."

"And Krinal was a woman all this time?" Joker asks curious of how such a powerful being was genderless to begin with only choosing a female form.

"Allegedly but I wouldn't take my word for it. She said she was a prothean but I'm yet to be convinced." Rhea states not convinced by the story Krinal told, "The Scythe we found out wasn't the organisation but the mastermind behind it, an old reaper program using the asari as its tools."

"And it was trying to conquer galaxy before Sovereign recruited Saren. I suppose it makes sense but why would a Reaper side with Krinal if one of their own was the enemy." Joker wanders as the reapers were still an enigma after years.

Ecroy intervenes, "We krogan have a strongest survival policy, maybe the reapers have a similar stance. If the reaper is defeated, it's useless."

"And did you get to Korlus on time?" the human asks.

"No, we got there a week later."…

**08/02/2161- Korlus, Imir System, Eagle Nebula**

Chek sits inside the cockpit of the shuttle that he was meant to take back to the Malal but despite Rhea's orders the quarian was stubborn enough to stay and INC didn't question quarian currently observes some of the contents of Rhea's omni-tool in order to catch up with what his family have gotten themselves into. He has read through the whole ordeal of when he, Tido and Yanlo faced the Krieg clone as well as their part in the clones breakout four year prior and is shocked.

He is now looking at the search that went into him as both Difan and Zeki had travelled many locations in order to find clues. The quarian leans back while reading and takes interest in the wife of his brother and what makes her special to him. He smiles with pride under his helmet as he is happy for his brother but at the same time is saddened by Yero's betrayal. He also reads into Tido recent history and how he got involved despite his animosity towards him.

"Information: life-signs detected. Approaching the shuttle." INC reveals as the quarian grabs a shotgun ready for firing.

He hears commotion outside and listens to what's going and as soon as he is about to open the door, he sees Tido opening the door while looking away towards the recue party. When Tido turns he receive a kick to the face and the group of Ecroy, Garahie, Brutagus, Yentha and All-Feather raise their weapons towards the quarian.

"You bastard! You thought you saw the last of me?" he says stepping out of the shuttle and seeing that Tido recognises him, "Surprised?"

"Hey, Chek! You're alive!" he says but the quairan raises his shotgun, "What are you doing?"

"Leaving you for dead, like you left me." He replies though looks at the company he keeps, "A real band of misfits, I know who you all are."

"Then we can skip the pleasantries." Brutagus says standing in front of Tido, "You're Chek? Enti will be pleased. What are you doing here?"

"Returning a favour for a friend." He says though it's not the story he told Rhea, "Krieg saved me from the torture of my cousins mercenaries and in return I helped him find this base."

"You were captured willingly?" Garahie asks and the others wandering the same thing.

"I let Yero know I was loose and that Krinal brought me here while I was bugged. Krieg found the location and his asari friend rescued me."

"Looks like they're both here." Yentha says before further questioning, "Why didn't you return to your family?"

"I would've, but I wanted to make sure Krieg was okay. He hasn't returned for seven days and I don't know where he is." He states before sitting on the side of the shuttle, "I'm not going until he's here or dead, which is more than you would do, Tido."

Tido wipes his mouth, "I only did what I had to, Chek. How could I help if someone was after you and not me?"

"There were always people after you, and I defended you all the way. But the one time I needed your help, I got nothing." He says with disgust for the drell.

"Where's the base?" Bruatgus asks curious on where they've gone.

"Ten miles from here but don't bother going, it exploded and submerged under all of this junk." The quarian reveals having witnessed it after he escaped, "But I don't believe either of them are dead."

Brutagus sees INC inside of the shuttle and enter, "INC, what are you doing here?"

"Answer: Rhea sent me with Chek but like him I don't want to leave." It reveals and shows caring for its comrades, "Information: I have located two of the Emissary's remaining bases on the planet."

"Then we should start there." Brutagus states entering the shuttle as INC shows a map of Outpost K-3 and the other base being the Bloodtower. "Yentha, you, Garahie and Ecroy take the shuttle and investigate this outpost while we head over to this base here. Chek, this base here may need you're expertise to infiltrate it."

"Sure." The quarian says while knowing that he is paired with Tido.

Brutagus continues, "The goal is to find Rhea and Krieg. We get them, we're done and leave this planet." He says and all agree willingly.

Krinal's fleet has moved since the Emissary left Krolus and now moves in an unknown region of the Terminus systems. The fleet of thousands of pirate ships as well as its leading dreadnaught, Zenith prowls through the opening expanse and was now ready to take on their enemy.

The Emissary herself sat in a dark blue room with no windows and a long table. She sits at the head like a leader while on both sides of the first seats are Juna and Sintarrio who are still estranged from Krinal's new look. Sitting next to Sintarrio is Jotan who of them all was least surprised but wasn't aware of her intention. With them also were Sedath who had abandoned the Bloodtower to be at the Emissary's side once again showing his loyalty while standing beside him was Yox. Delphine was also present and is amazed and strangely attracted to the Emissary as she tries to avoid eye-contact. The other seats were filled by certain pirates and criminal leaders and among the many were Dogar, Norim, Tenias' wife, Vekana who has taken over her husband's band and Jatev's second, Hidok.

Krinal leans on her chair and looks towards the group, "Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen. Don't let appearances fool you, I intend to run things the way they were but now you pledge you loyalty to me."

"Why should we? Thanks to you, many of us are dead at the hands of Rhea T'Anya." Vekana says as her husband was killed by Rhea on Aite.

"And she will be dealt with, Vekana. You and your husband should've have spent your money a bit wiser before she drowned him." She replies to her embarrassment before turning to Sedath, "What are our assets?"

"We have two-hundred billion credits at our disposal with it climbing each day. The criminals from the various syndicates don't know you're their employer and are afraid to ask questions." The salarian states with full knowledge of the operation.

She then turns to Sintarrio, "Good. And what of the war? Since I'll be taking personal interest we should be done in a few years."

"Two strongholds are taken but two more are still contested. We will supply more vorcha at your disposal?" he informs as one of her generals.

Krinal puts her hand up, "No, give them a victory and we may catch them while they're on a high. Have we located the Duchess?"

Jotan sees that this is his field of expertise, "My intelligence suggests that Duchess has retreated to a stronghold that was built before our faction entered the Scythe's ranks. We don't know where it is?"

"Keep looking. When we find her, we find our prize. Now let's talk about your fee." She says leaning in on the table, "After this war is over there will be many of you returning to your old occupations. You'll steal, you'll murder and cheat, it's disgusting really."

"At least we won't be working for you again." Hidok remarks as the batarian can't walk thanks to Rhea and All-Feather

Krinal smiles and leans back again in a more relaxed manner, "On the contrary, I open a new proposal. The Terminus Systems are uncontested and no single government will unite them against the Council. The Council rely on the Terminus' dysfunctions as a barrier but if we together unite the terminus under one banner, we will be unstoppable."

"You suggest that we pledge loyalty to you after this is over? After all the lives lost?" Vekana questions as she doesn't like the idea along with half of the other criminals.

"Oh, but I have something much better. Imagine a nation that thrives no longer on slaves or crime but pure dominance." She reveals and sparks interest among the crowd.

"And how do you plan on doing this on your own?" Dogar wonders as the volus is aware that she probably doesn't have the soldiers.

"I'm not; you're going to be my army." This remark causes some laughter among the criminals while the Acolytes stay silent, "Why so funny? You're all desperate and that's why your criminals. I can make you leaders of peoples from one half of the galaxy to another. Imagine, each person in this room having an army at their disposal in alliance with each other."

"And what of the Council?" Norim wonder being base in Citadel Space.

"We make them beg for us not to attack them. My friends, you will be the mothers and fathers of greatest empire in galaxy. We'll destroy the Council, Aria T'Loak even the Shadow Broker and then we'll be the rulers." She says and has impressed and large group of the criminals who desire one day to reframe from their occupation, "Dismissed."

As the group are leaving Sedath walks past Delphine and whispers in her ear, "The Emissary wants to talk to you."

"What about?" she asks back though the salarian shrugs in an uninterested fashion as the group leave quickly and the doors shut behind them leaving her and Krinal alone, "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes." she says looking at the asari from head to toe before glaring at her, "I noticed you looking at me earlier."

Delphine looks down and raises her eyebrows, "I'm just amazed on how you've…changed."

Krinal laughs at her and her manner as if it were a game, "I know you have something for the female form, Delphine. In honesty, how do I look?"

She scans the grey alien from her boots to her cleavage and smiles before looking at her, "Honestly, I like it."

"Good. Come over here." She says and directs the asari to sit on her left knee while rubbing the blue aliens thigh, "You know, when I first approached you I wondered whether you understood what actually happened to you. You were so innocent but you joined us anyway."

"You gave me my revenge." She says referring to her night with Rhea, "And I enjoyed it."

Krinal smiles and begins stroking her face, "I know, but I would ask for a favour one day, you knew this?" She says Delphine lets the grey alien enters a finger into her mouth and sucks it gently.

"I think I can do that." She says leaning in and kissing her passionately before stopping exited, "What do you want me to do with you?"

Krinal leans in and smiles, "I want you to feed the Scythe agent you've been talking to false information." She says and catches the asari off-guard. The Emisaary is quick to respond as she head-butts Delphines and restrains her head first on the table, "Oh, you didn't thing I'd let it go unnoticed, did you?" She says elbowing her in back and Delphine screaming, "You little bitch, you bedded one of Yox's breeding partners and she put in touch with Captain Chavai, that's why they were on Aite." She says before leaning in towards whispering distance, "Don't worry, I've already punished you. I sent your little human girlfriend out of the airlock."

"You fucking bitch!" Delphine says breaking free but Krinal uses her biotic to pin her against the nearby wall.

"Now, you have two choices. I can kill you now, right here or you can do as I say?" she tilts her head as Delphine begins to fear her superior, "What's the matter? I take it you won't comply? Okay." She says letting Dephine fall and crawl on her hands and knees. The asari only has brief moment before Krinal stand above her with the Delphine's head between her thigh and twists, breaking her neck. "Being organic is so much more fun." And let her go as she falls to the ground motionless.

Yentha pilots the shuttle which Rhea and Krieg travelled in and are reaching what was the Outpost K-3 only to find that the place didn't exist anymore. The area had been flattened and the only the ruined of the tower were left but spread across miles of debris. Garahie looks outside and sees that the place must have been destroyed along with the main base as there were no signs of life. The place had in fact been planted with atomic bombs so that when Krinal was done so was the facility. The contents were of an unknown state but as he continues to look through the window he sees that it has gone largely unnoticed by locals.

"This place is dead. I don't get it. A base should have been here." The salarian says to Ecroy who himself notices the absence of a building.

"Krinal is covering tracks. Maybe it's abandoned the place." He wanders and is yet to know that Krinal is now a women.

Yentha opens a channel to Brutagus, "Brutagus, we've just gotten here. There's nothing but old scrap."

"It's the same here. We couldn't go any further on foot because of the radiation. We should regroup." Brutagus states disappointed at his expedition.

"Agreed. Meet you back at the shuttle." She says before turning the small ship around from where they came.

Beyond their belief, Rhea and Krieg did in fact make it out of the explosion as both were sheltered inside the medical bay of an old ship. The bay was dirty and rusted yet at the same time still had working power as the asari was setting up a bench to work from. The equipment was in surprisingly good condition as she opens a nearby cabinet and takes out all of the appropriate equipment needed for what she is about to do. She takes a clean cloth she has in her pouch and places it on the bench before walking over to a small yet important pod that was big enough to carry a life-form inside.

Krieg sits in the corner and looks down with his spear in hand thinking of this whole situation and what has transpired over the past week. He is now enemies with mother of his own child, a concept he is having trouble comprehending.

Rhea turns to see Krieg in a bad mood and kneels in front of him, "Why are you sad? We found her didn't we?"

"I'm not sad that we found her just sad she's born under these circumstances." He says leaning back in regret, "I've had a child with my enemy. Talk about irony."

Rhea holds his free hand with reassurance, "Hey, don't worry about her or it. Just think about now." She stands up and pulls him forward, "Come on. Don't you want to see your daughter?"

Krieg sighs and is nervous as he is directed to the small pod and watches as Rhea opens it. The asari is delicate with its contents as the child hasn't been exposed to anyone yet. She picks the child up and cradles her smiling while wrapping her in the cloth. The child was grey like Krieg but unlike him had white irises like her mother as Rhea brings her over to him and smiles. She hands her over to him and at first he feels that she is light but when in his arms he looks at her with disbelief.

Rhea looks over and smiles, "She's cute. Say something?"

"I don't know…" he says before sitting back down on his chair in disbelief, "I…have you seen something like this?"

"Sure. When I was medical doctor I help deliver a few children." She says while kneeling next to him, "She looks like you."

"Let's hope not." He says referring to his appearance jokily and Rhea smiles, "I don't know what to call her?"

"Well you're her father. Call her anything?" Rhea says still smiling.

"All this time you've been under my nose." He says to the child and acts as if no one is in the room. "How old is she?"

Rhea gets up and checks the side of the pod hoping for a date, "She's just over a year old. Krinal must have had body inseminated during the period just before you left." They both hear a sound coming from the medical bay entrance and Rhea pulls out her pistol. Before they can prepare themselves the door opens and bursting through is Brutagus along with INC, Tido and Chek. "Quiet!" she whisper loudly and points to Krieg.

As the grey aliens sits the three are confused at both Krieg and the child in his arms while Tido looks towards Rhea with a caring smile but she doesn't return it. The turian approaches the alien and gets a better look at the child in his arms in intrigue while Krieg nods to Chek for playing his part in infiltrating Krinal's base.

"You must be Krieg?" Brutagus asks as the two have never met in person, "It's strange, you look different than you did."

"Times change." Krieg replies before turning his attention to Rhea, "We need to get back to wherever you keep your base. I want her safe." He says and she takes the child and places her back inside the pod where she is most safe. He immediately turns to Tido, "I didn't realise your company included a killer, Rhea?"

"You're last the last person who should accuse others Krieg." She says softly and is about to carry the pod but Brutagus offers instead.

"Strange. I don't kill on mass like you did, drell." He says referring to something Tido is ashamed of, "Oh, I was there before you fled. Those humans didn't need to die."

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Tido says dismissively.

"What, that a turian terrorist hired you to release a toxin into a small human town. Was it the money that drove you or your sick mind?" he says as Tido throws a punch for it to be caught by Krieg. The grey alien's strength is much more prominent as he squeezes while causing Tido pain and his sharper teeth exposed like a wild beast.

Rhea grabs Krieg's hand and he looks at her, "Stop." She says but his grip tightens until she resorts to shouting, "Krieg! Stop it!"

Krieg lets go and Tido shakes his hand in disbelief, "Fuck!" he shouts before the group look at him unimpressed, "It was the money." He says before walking out alone.

Brutagus turns to Krieg, "The Fleet has moved."

"So has Krinal. It jumped bodies and turns out to be the mother of my child, so I'm not in mood giving answers." He says walking out behind Chek and the turian looks at Rhea knowing she has a problem.

Krinal sits inside her quarters on the Zenith. Since she is now an organic life form she can enjoy being one as the grey alien sits at her desk eating grapes and has since acquired a likely to the human fruit. Her room had the desk facing the door with another door on her left where her quarters were. She is still able to maintain an empire like she did before as in front of her were six screens with stock prices and camera's showing the life aboard her ship. Her room was also full of art as she always admired alien culture despite using them as tools and has a collection that even the wealthiest tycoon would envy.

Sedath enters the room and carries a clipboard, "What are you orders, Emissary?"

"No orders. Did they find the child?" she wanders.

"They did. They escaped into the Bloodtower and rescued her."

"I see. It's a shame really that we couldn't save her, I was beginning to grown fond of her. At least she is with one of us."

"Yes, Emissary." Sedath says respectfully, "Is there anything else you need?"

"Not now, I have everything I need." She says looking over to her quarters. Sedath nods and leaves the Emissary to her own devices as the alien walks to the door and presses the keypad. She walks into her personal bedroom and takes off her clothes piece by piece to reveal that she had a caesarean section and actually gave birth to her child. When she climbs into her bed she cuddles up to another life from though it only responds with a rough groan.

Inside one of the shuttles heading back to the Malal, Rhea is in the back opposite Tido who is leaning forward and embarrassed about his confrontation with Krieg. Rhea knows that these two have her conflicted and she doesn't know who to really put her faith in. Garahie also sits in the back while Ecroy is in the cockpit flying the shuttle. The salarian is uncomfortable as he can feel the tension between the drell and the asari though the pair hadn't said a word since they arrived on board. All-Feather, the remaining member of the team is also present but due to his lack of knowledge of their language seems less interested in the situation.

Tido looks up to Rhea and her face isn't an impressed one, "What do you want me to say?"

"You did it for the money?" she says in disgust, "It's true then?"

"Look, I've killed innocents before. I'm not going to let you change my way on life." He says with no regret but seeing Rhea's face hates looking towards her.

"I don't want to. I thought you were more…I thought you were more sensible." Rhea says though her words are more or less useless.

"Well you were wrong. Like everyone else. At least Enti and Difan and Zeki and all you motherfuckers can get off my back now." He says while facing the window and looking outside.

"Krieg wont. If Krieg saw what you did, he'll kill you." Rhea warns knowing Krieg.

"Like that freak can stop me. Like you could've stopped me." He says while pointing his pistol towards her to Garahie's shock, "I could pull the trigger right now and not feel a thing. You were good but I've had better." He says laughing though the joke is on him as his laughter is cut short before he drops the gun, "There's no point in killing you. You're nothing more than murderer in everyone else's eyes."

"But I didn't commit that murder." She says adamant.

"But they think you did and they always will. At least I'm honest about who I am." He says leaning back in triumph.

"And who are you? A drell with no compassion, no redemption, no friends, and long list of all you've done with your life." Rhea replies, "At least I can look at myself with dignity."

"Is that want you think every time? Strange, because every time you smoke a cigarette, you see one of my kind, even when you have sex you'll think of me." He says and with more malice.

"Will you two shut the fuck up?" Garahie says in rage as he has had to listen to this sparring match, "What's done is done. I don't want to hear this shit anymore." He says before walking into the cockpit and shutting the door while sitting next to Ecroy, "Did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear a thing." Ecroy lies though Garahie understands his angle as he watches the shuttle exit the atmosphere.

Krieg sits in the shuttle that he and Rhea took to Korlus and stares at the pod in front of him carrying his child. He is not alone as Brutagus sits on the opposite side and next to him Chek leans back and relaxes after a hard weeks work. INC was also present and on the seat next to Krieg while Yentha was the one piloting the shuttle as it returned to space. The grey alien is strangely at ease with the situation despite being uncomfortable with the circumstance however he opens the pod to get a better look at the little girl.

Brutagus also has a look, "Tell me, what did the Cleric say to you?"

Krieg looks to him, "What do you mean?"

"Well he kept mentions 'fish of the skies'. Ring any bells?"

Krieg smiles before pulling out a small circular disk and revealing a hologram of a reaper, "He means this? It's a Reaper, something we don't want to run into." He says and the turian gets a good look at the machine, "I went to many worlds searching for link between all your species. The Cleric told me to in order for me to work it out."

Brutagus looks at Krieg confused, "Care to explain?"

Krieg leans in a whisper, "You've all been deceived. These ships are alive and are coming. They built the relays so that you, the asari, salarians, quarians, all of you would find the Citadel and meet you demise." He says before putting it away, "Krinal works for a Reaper called Nazara, it has been planning this for centuries. This war is bi-product of an almost dead machine. Nazara wants it wiped from existence."

Brutagus listens intrigued as it fills in loopholes in the data he recovered from K-Thousands, "Why would anyone join them?"

"Indoctrination. They feed white noise of some sort into your mind and control you. Even loose objects of Reapers can have the same effect, like it did on the founder of the Scythe." Krieg says looking out the window, "I have to beat them."

"When will they come?" he asks the grey alien.

"I don't know. All I do now is take care of her." He says looking back down to the child and smiling.

The Malal was back in the Terminus Systems where it was safer for them despite Krinal's Fleet being there also. The ship and is entourage are flying through the Eagle Nebula as it is safe now but another problem was brewing among the quarian pirates. A ship that decided to stay in the system happened to be a ship of similar design to one of the frigates. The ship aims its cannons ready to fire upon the huge ship which to them would seem like it was suicide. When it fires the projectile the ship it aims for is a mere frigate surrounding the Malal and it is destroyed within one hit causing all the other ships to fire. It has no effect on the advanced shield of this frigate.

However in the lower levels of the Malal, Dexillius is still lying on his restraining chair and listens to the sound of the engine. When the sound of gunfire hits the ship the turian seizes the opportunity to break free as he uses his biotics to release the shields but then his strength to break out of the restrain locks. As he sits up two quarians enter but the turian stands and disarms them, using the weapons as his as he pulls the trigger with his mind. He smiles and walks past the dead pair and picks up the assault rifle to use as he takes the ship from within. A battle had only just begun and unknown to them this was more than just a coincidence.


	42. Dishonour Incarnate

**Chapter XLII: Dishonour Incarnate**

**08/02/2161- The Malal, Imir System, Eagle Nebula**

Dexillius is storming through the Malal and avoiding all he can as his aim was for the bridge. The turian was a biotic and a very powerful one as he didn't need to use the assault rifle in his possession for attacking but uses it merely as a defensive and scaring tool as he shoots the ceiling to catch a group of quarians attention before throwing a shockwave towards them. When he walks though the bodies he enters the elevator and presses the keypad while smiling.

Zeki and Difan were trying to help Enti who has collapsed while the bridge had been attacked by the frigate outside. The heavy cannon on the enemy ship was proving effective as the son of the Captain takes charge while Zeki tries to help Enti. The group look towards the closest screen to an incoming message patching through and immediately Difan opens it to reveal his own blood.

Yero is the attacker and as a betrayer to his uncle he intends take the Malal for himself, "Difan, what a surprise. I thought you would be looking for your brother?"

"You bastard, Yero!" Difan says slamming the chair in front of him.

"Surrender, I have an ally on the ship who's making his way through your men. Give up or be destroyed from within." He says and as he finishes the group turn to see Dexillius entering the room and shooting the nearest quarian with no regret.

**2185- Citadel Control, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Alliance soldiers are waiting within the walkways of many Citadel ports that were reserved for Spectres and they were led by Bjorn Magnusson. The Alliance Major was waiting for Brutagus to return though the turian is the least of his concerns now. The information that the turian stole from him could be used as a weapon against the Alliance if he were to use it but they theorize the Spectre will use it as a mere shield so the humans couldn't touch him.

The human turns to a soldier, "Keep watch for a turian with markings on one side of his face. This turian needs to be taken to Udina and Anderson immediately." He says and the soldier salutes him before getting back to his duties.

As some alliance soldiers are waiting in the foyer many passengers are getting off a commercial shuttle from the nearby Boltzmann System where Brutagus went. The turian was among the crowd and had made it back to the Citadel within a day though it wasn't uncommon. The turian looks to see the alliance soldiers guarding the hanger bays and decides it'll be better to blend within the crowd and does so like a natural. He sneaks under their noses without them realising it.

He walks towards a parking lot where he looks for a specific model which he intends to use as transport. The air-car was grey and rusted and compared to most it was heap of debris but the turian opens the door and sits on the passenger seat instead of driving. When he turns to see whose next to him he smiles as it was an exiled red-crested krogan who bore the face tattoo's, who like Brutagus must be in league with Sedath.

"How's our guy?" the krogan asks and is wearing black medium armour.

"He's fine, Likosh. He's got the dirt on T'Anya so I wouldn't worry about it."

"But she's still here. It's been five days since she met Joker and the humans are running around in circles looking for her, and you now." Likosh says and keeping tabs on the situation.

"We knew the risks. Besides, it's not like we're on her side anymore." He says and admitting to not being allied with Rhea like he was years ago.

Likosh smiles, "I'm surprised that you didn't finish after what happened on the Malal. That was almost a disaster." He says referring to an event.

Brutagus leans back and thinks of that moment, "It almost was."…

**08/02/2161- The Malal, Imir System, Eagle Nebula**

The two shuttles were approaching the Malal and those inside them see the commotion outside. Brutagus and Krieg witness the struggle between this single frigate and the Malal's fleet and the grey alien recognises the weaponry as many of Krinal forces have similar weapons mounted on their ships. He turns to the cockpit and sits next to Yentha and tries to open a channel to them but there is no response. This doesn't make him give up but Brutagus is more concerned for the child that is a passenger on the ship and this expanse of space being a dangerous place to be as he closes the pod and walks into the cockpit.

"Shit, the channel is being blocked. INC, hack into it." Krieg orders and the drone obeys its creator and within seconds he can open a channel to bridge, "Come in!"

"Who's this, state your name?"

"Difan, it's us. What's going on?" Brutagus asks and giving the quarian a more recognisable voice.

"Yero is attacking the ship and-" is abruptly stopped and another voice enters the channel, "Hello, Krieg. Didn't think you would see the last of me?" Dexillius says on the other end.

Krieg turns off the channel and thinks to himself, "You had Dexillius on board and didn't tell me?"

"What's he doing?" Yentha asks concerned and was only aware of his capture.

Krieg shakes his head, "He's been waiting this whole time for you all to leave so he can claim the ship for the Emissary."

"But we thought Yero wants the ship." Yentha states remembering his betrayal.

"He does but he's pledged himself to the Emissary so he'll be captain." He says before heading to the back of the ship and examining the pod that protects the child, "We have to board?"

"We can't with the child on board." Brutagus says in both their defence.

Krieg stands face to face with him, "No, there is a mad turian on the loose. I'm risking one life for hundreds. INC, hack the ramp and allow me to enter."

"I'm coming with you." Brutagus says before seeing Chek patting Krieg on the shoulder.

"Me too. My family is up there and I owe them a visit." The quarian states.

"Fine." He says before looking to Yentha, "Call Rhea and tell her to aim from the hanger bay. And…protect my child" he pleads and the spectre obeys.

The two ships fly in unison and head straight into the fray. The size of these shuttle acts to their advantage as they dodge both ally and enemy gunfire with Yentha steadily controlling the shuttle for one and Ecroy for the other. The krogan narrowly dodges the cannon fire of Yero's ship that has spotted the pair but the targets are moving too fast for the gunner to get a lock-on. As INC opens the hanger bay doors the two shuttles land on the ramp and when it closes, the two are reunited by the skirmish.

When the oxygen fills the hanger bay, Krieg is first to jump out and readies his spear while Chek takes his shotgun and Brutagus his assault rifle. INC also exits to become part of the team and group run towards the elevator. The second group to leave are Rhea and her team who immediately arm themselves and run towards the elevator as it closes. Krieg nods to Rhea before they can enter and the group of four head upward.

"Shit, he's gone on his own." She says looking towards the door that leads to the staircase, "Okay, me and Ecroy will head upstairs and try and reach Krieg. You two wait for the elevator, and be ready." Garahie nods while Tido acknowledges her orders though she doesn't have time to argue but All-Feather points to where his family were nods to him and he is given leave to investigate while the asari and krogan head for the staircase.

Krieg and the others wait as the elevator takes them up a few floors but are stopped a level below due to a power cut. When the power comes back on they see they are on the floor directly below the bridge and Krieg uses the spearhead to cut through the doors gap. He is successful but the door is only halfway in the walking zone so INC is first to exit and is followed by Krieg.

Outside, Yero's frigate releases escape pods though these had a special purpose as they fly towards the Malal. These pods were shaped like a spike and aim close to the top of the hull. When they make contact with the ship they penetrate partially through the hull and from the inside, the spikes open and drop quairans loyal to Yero. These quarians were wearing black and blue suits with silver plates on top for protection, courtesy of Krinal as they fire towards Enti's quairans with no mercy.

Fire fights breakout throughout the ship as Rhea sees a quairan in need and his fellow comrades victim to enemy fire. Ecroy covers her as she pulls the quairan to safety while the krogan uses old-school tactics to scare these invaders into submission. He charges towards them without fear and knocks one over while shooting another before head-butting the third. He then fires at the remaining two and guns them down like they were inexperienced.

On the higher level Krieg sees one of these spikes land in front of him and readies himself while Brutagus and Chek climb into the hallway. The alien uses the blunt end of his spear to knock the rifle out of the first quarian's hands and then slashes his chest. As he spins he stabs the next in the knee before leaning left away from gunfire and elbows him in the face, breaking her mask. Ducking when the next attempt to hit him occurs the alien impales him and lifts him up only to slam him onto the ground.

Brutagus and Chek help with cover-fire as Krieg fights his way through the mobs with INC and together the pair head up to the top level alone. When they run up the stairs they see another of Yero's quarian's and she shoots Krieg in the shoulder. This response cause's regret for the invader when Krieg roars at her before savagely stabbing the alien with the spear. When he stops he remembers back to his beginnings and how much mess he made back then before INC heads in front of him and he follows.

Inside the bridge most of the quarians were still alive including Difan, Zeki and Enti though the elder of three wasn't in great condition. Dexillius however stands triumphant in the chaos yet he turns when Krieg enters the room with INC.

The turian smiles, "So you're alive after all. I'm surprised Krinal never killed you."

Krieg's face fills with rage as he confronts the familiar Acolyte, "Not until I've ripped you heart out. You'll pay for what you've done."

The turian walks forwards and laughs, "Really, after all this time you think about killing me but what will you accomplish? You fate is decided Krieg, the Emissary will win."

"Not without you. The Emissary is flesh and bone now, and like all flesh, it can be cut, and like all bone, it can be broken." He says with all the passion in his body.

"Just like you." Dexillius states as he fires shockwave at Krieg but he jumps and throws his spear.

The turian uses his biotics to grab the spear and redirect it back towards Krieg. Krieg moves out the way in mid-air and catches it before landing on Enti's chair close enough to Dexillius. He kicks the turian in the face and the alien stumbles before being flung back into the door with a push. He recovers quickly and keeps his distance from the grey alien. Smiling he conjures up a singularity and Krieg becomes sucked towards it. The turian then pulls the spear away from its owner and attempts to throw it at him though Krieg allows the previous attack to take him to avoid a fatal blow. Krieg receives the effect of the singularity and is knocked down to the second level of the bridge where he gets up slowly and picks up his spear.

Dexillius lowers himself with his biotics and smiles, "So this is how ends Krieg? I have awaited the chance to defeat you for a whole year." He says before punching him into the pilot's controls.

Krieg's resists but the biotics are overwhelming as the turian approaches, "You bastard. You knew about the child, about the reapers, everything."

"Of course, Krinal trusts only a few with this information and I agree with her goals." He reveals while moving Krieg into the wall and taking his spear, "An impressive weapon. The Veteran was wise in keeping his empty promise. He was meant to be Krinal's most loyal. Pity his training isn't enough." He says before feeling his biotics getting weaker.

Krieg face becomes increasing more feral as he growls and breaks through the barrier to tackle the turian down and starts punching the alien in a fashion that only wild animal would before grabbing him by the collar and throwing him into the wall, "Not weaker, stronger!"

The turian sees the grey alien bringing his spear back to him and throws it towards him. Dexillius rolls out the way before standing up and receives and kick to the chest, pushing him back into the wall. Krieg then grabs him again and throws him to the other side while picking his spear up.

While this is going on many of the quairans are escaping under Difan's guidance and INC protects them by generating blue men in front them to stand guard while Zeki helps carry Enti away from the battle. As the group exit the bridge they are met by Brutagus and Chek. The brothers sees each other for first time in a long time and freeze when looking at each other to find how they've changed.

"Hello."

"You're alive." Difan says in disbelief as the older quarian nods, "Where were you?"

"Around." Chek says before looking towards an incoming spike sand it releasing a familiar face. It was Yero and he was armed with a holographic sabre ready to commandeer his prize but had only two obstacles in his way. "Go, take father and you wife."

"But-" Difan is about to object.

"You have more to live for, little brother. Let me have my revenge." He says as Difan hands him his personal blade and leaves with the others, "Brutagus, INC, go help Rhea. Krieg knows what he's doing." He says as INC exits the bridge and joins the spectre.

When they are alone Yero speaks, "So, you live after all, Chek. I thought killing you would be the easiest." The traitor says before circling him, "I always thought Difan would have this moment, but I guess you're the heir to the Malal, I should kill you first." He says before attacking but Chek blocks it.

"Why, Yero." He says attacking his cousin with the blade but being superiorly parried, "Why, betray us, after everything?"

"Because this is mine. My mother was a fool to leave this legacy to your father, it should be mine!" he shouts before attempting and attack and then a foot sweeping in order to fall his opponent, "This is my birth-right and no others." he says before Chek hits the blade away and gets back up to circle each other again, "Then again you were never the leading type were you? You were much busier helping your drell friend."

Chek breaths heavily, "But my brother is." He says before hitting the quarian's blade again and missing a horizontal sweep leaving him open. As he sees Yero's blade reach his neck, the end is almost nigh for him.

"Tell me, Chek, any last words?" he says cockily.

"I could ask you the same question." he says and activates Rhea's omni-tool which he is still wearing. A surge of electricity goes through Yero's suit unexpectedly and Chek waits for him to fall to his knees, "Unlike Difan, I don't play fair." He says before impaling the quarian through the neck and giving the final the blow. He puts his foot on the quarian chest and pulls out the blade before sighing at the fact he had just killed a member of his own family.

His thoughts do not have time to manifest due to the door opening to the bridge and the blade taken from his hand and lands into Dexillius' as the turian is resorting to weapons in hope of defeating Krieg, who was proving more difficult than expected. The turian uses the blade with skill but Krieg does the same with his weapon as he parries the Acolyte to stumble forwards and holds himself up with the Captain's chair while panting.

"What's the matter, old man?" Krieg gloats and causes the turian to fight harder but even the most powerful biotics become weak eventually as he waves the blade erratically and Krieg impales him through the chest, "I should have killed you when I had the chance. You're beaten Dexillius."

Dexillius smiles, "You may have killed me but you can't protect that child of yours." He says and gets the grey alien's attention, "Oh, yes. Do you really think beating me will stop the drell from killing the runt? It took some convincing but he is desperate to get away from you." He says laughing as Krieg abandons him and leaves the room abruptly as Chek sees him and follows leaving Dexillius laughing until his dying breath.

Rhea sighs as she has finally reached the floor where Krieg entered and has been accompanied by Ecroy, INC and Brutagus but they are surprised to see her friend running back towards them, "Krieg, where are you going?"

"He has my daughter!" he shouts in an erratic fashion as both Rhea and Ecroy immediately follow them.

In the hanger bay, Tido never followed Rhea's orders but instead went on his instinct as he knows Krieg will kill him in matter of time and will take his chances as he holds Yentha by the neck and has his pistol in her back while Garahie is lying on the floor next to them unconscious. Krieg's daughter was still in the pod but the exposed child was within range of Tido's fire and despite his cool manner is growing increasingly paranoid. The word has gotten around as Krieg exits the staircase with Chek, Brutagus, Ecroy, INC and Rhea who have all come to see what seems to be an impossible situation and at the worst time.

Tido points the pistol at the child, "Don't take another step, freak, or you little girl gets a pile of food the temperature of a sun." he warns causing Krieg to stop in his tracks.

Brutagus sees that Yentha is also in need, "Yentha, stay calm."

"Shut up!" Tido say pointing the gun towards the turian, "I can't afford to be killed by you or you, Krieg. I can think of better ways to go." He says pointing the gun back at Yentha.

Rhea looks at the drell she once bedded and sees the monster come through, "Tido, this isn't wright."

Tido laughs, "I'll tell you what 'not wright' is. That after all this time you take his side, you've trusted me while many haven't, yet a woman I actually cared for and my best friend, now hate me."

"You can't blame them for your mistakes, jackass." Ecroy says before Rhea confronts him.

"You're not helping." She says before walking closers, "Tido, give me the child."

"Fuck you!" he shouts as he points the gun towards her and readies the trigger. Rhea freezes though an unlikely rescuer comes to her aid as Chek pushes her over and takes the shot before falling to his knees. "Fuck!" he shouts regretting firing as he didn't intend to kill anyone. "Well, nice going Chek. You've made me kill you, how about that for revenge."

Rhea looks at Chek and sees he's still breathing and tries to tend his wound, "Stay with me." She says helping as best she can.

"I should have aimed for your throat. Then this wouldn't look so pathetic." Tido says before turning to the others, "Now, I want a shuttle and a guarantee you'll let me go."

"I'm not letting you go now, Tido." Krieg says with bottled up anger, "You threaten me with my child's life. Who do you think you are?"

Tido smiles and winks at the grey alien, "I am Tido, the slur of the drell." He says before pointing gun into Yentha's upper-back and firing.

"No!" Brutagus shouts as they witness Yentha fall on her front. Tido uses what time he has to aim at the child but before he can a shoot, a rifle hits his hand and knocks the gun away allowing Brutagus the pleasure and shooting bullets into the drell. Tido still stands when Brautgus' assault rifle fills its heat-sink and so he walks up to him and gives him the final blow with a metal knife he carried and slits the drell's throat before he falls. Rhea looks to where the rifle-shot came from to see All-Feather with his family slowly walking out of their hiding places. The feather-clad quarian shows sympathy for the situation but also for Tido himself as he recites a prayer in his language.

Brutagus holds Yentha in his arms and his face signals failure for her while she breathes the best she can. The asari smiles at the turian and holds his cheek before letting out a few words, "It's been an honour, Oristar."

The turian lets out panicking shout, "Help! Help me!" and the command causes many to approach them in helping the asari to the medical bay.

However Krieg immediately goes for his child and picks the crying baby up and hugs it with more emotion than he did before. He looks at the chaos around him and watches the Wisps coming to help the dying asari and injured Chek. He looks at Rhea with sorrow before closing his eyes and thinking this is moment he knows he's a father.

**2185- Citadel Freeways, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Brutagus remembers that moment perfectly and remembers the aftermath even more as he was famous for being the one who took down Tido. Despite the events that occurred no one asked the circumstances as the drell was considered a menace to the populace and had done more than enough damage in his lifetime. Likosh is driving the air-car as they head down to Zakera Ward.

"You still beat yourself up about it?" he asks the turian.

Brutagus sighs, "Occasionally. I could have saved her."

Likosh nods in understanding, "Listen, Tido was a fuck-up to start with. Despite his relationship with T'Anya he was unstable."

"I know." Brutagus says while looking at the Ward below, "It's just that I didn't believe I would gain such a reputation in later life. I didn't think myself very out-there when it came to popularity."

"At least you're not Saren." Likosh says reminding the turian of his fellow Spectre.

"I might as well be. Spectres carry dark secrets, too much for the average soldier. With this war coming I don't think we'll be needed." He says referring to reapers inevitable invasion, "At least things were quieter after that incident."…

**13/02/2161- The Malal, Sahrabarik System, Omega Nebula**

Yentha was lying on a bed within the Malal's medical bay and Rhea was doing the best she could to make her final moments comfortable. She looks at Brutagus sitting beside her and smiles to give him some reassurance as he holds Yentha's hand and the asari is awake enough to smile. Many were inside of the medical bay including Garahie, Ecroy, Difan and Zeki while Chek and Enti both lay on medical beds themselves and both in stable condition despite their trauma.

Brutagus watches the last moments as Yentha shuts her eyes and nods when the grip of her hand becomes limp, "She's gone." And Rhea puts a sheet over her body.

"I'm sorry, Brutagus." She says before leaning on the wall and can't help but feel sorrow herself as tear falls from her eye.

Brutagus stands and looks at Difan, "Can you arrange my shuttle to carry both her and Tido's bodies back to the Citadel?"

"Of course." He replies and escorts the turian out of the room with the others giving way.

Rhea takes a look at Chek's condition and gunshot didn't hit any vital organ, "At least you're going to be okay." She says while Zeki puts a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, sorry I'm just-"

"It's okay." She says before breathing heavily and holding Rhea's arm before whispering, "Rhea, I'm pregnant."

Rhea eyes widen and she smiles, "Really? Congratulations."

"Thank you. It makes things a bit difficult though." She admits as this isn't a place to raise a child. "Difan is organising repairs to the ship but I don't think we can carry on with all that's happened."

"I understand. We'll leave as soon as possible." She says but Zeki looks at her confused.

"No, I want you to stay. Difan wants you here and Enti too. We just think it's time we took a break from racing around the galaxy." She says and Rhea blushes in embarrassment.

"I agree." Ecroy says, "Agon said he is arriving soon and my mission is over but he did say you're welcome to join us Rhea."

"I'll think I'll take my chances here." Rhea says smiling at the kindness she has received from him before looking at Garahie, "What are you doing now?

Garahie watches her approach and smiles, "I can go back to C-Sec if I want. Brutagus is going to say he made a mistake. Call me if you need anything." He says before Rhea kisses him on the check, "I should be kidnapped more often."

Rhea notices that she hasn't seen Krieg since the incident, "What's Krieg doing now?"

Ecroy shrugs, "He wouldn't say to us but he's been talking to the Wisps."

Zeki sighs, "Oh, he isn't going to give his child to them is he?" she says panicking before Rhea smiles and shakes her head, "Good."

Outside in space the Malal is near the fuel depot which is doing its best to repair the exterior of the ship with the machines for the task. However the nearby Mass Relay releases a set of three ships from its grasp and these had some familiarity as they were the same three ships that house Tovoh and his personal guard as the middle ship within the V-formation realises a single shuttle towards their location as the ramp to the Malal opens with the krogan entering the dreadnaught.

Difan and Brutagus wait for the ship to land properly and the oxygen to fill the room before entering the hanger bay and watch the small boxed-shuttle's ramp retract down and walking out were krogan in bronze-clad armour in two lines. The number of them was twelve excluding both Tovoh and Agon, who the latter was once again in his silver armour and the High Lord in his regal attire.

Difan as the commanding officer so-to-speak walks to the elderly krogan and introduces himself, "I am Difan'Malal. I apologise but my father isn't in condition to talk with you."

Tovoh smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder, "By the look of it, I have found wright person anyway." He says leading him.

Agon approaches Brutagus and shakes his hand, "Sorry about Yentha, she seemed dedicated to our cause."

"She was, but she shouldn't have died like this." Bruatgus says before following the pair in front, "Are you here to pick up Ecroy?"

"Yes, but we wish to speak with Krieg as well. The grey alien has information that from Ecroy's words is valuable to understanding the enemy?"

"It is, I'll gather everyone who needs to know and we'll meet in the briefing room up on the top floor." He says before walking with his old friend.

Enti is still lying next to his son though the elder quarian has been tired for a time but luck for him Zeki has been tending to him. While Difan is doing his duties his wife rubs the arm of Enti and slowly wakes him up. When he gets his bearings he sees his daughter-in-law and can tell that she is smiling. She looks over to the bed on his right and so does Enti whose eyes widen as he recognises his own son on the bed and tries to get up.

"He's alive." Enti says before being lowered back down.

"He's fine. He just has wound in stomach. No fatal injures." She replies before the elder quarian grabs her hand, "I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm getting too old for this, Zeki." He says before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

In the hanger bay, Difan is organising Yentha's body to be transported onto Brutagus's shuttle while the turian sits on the steps of the ship. The quarian has since had to take a leading role with both his father and older brother in the medical bay and is conversing with some of his soldiers while Garahie approaches the shuttle and sits next to the turian.

"What a year." Garahie says before seeing Brutagus is still depressed at the outcome, "Tido couldn't be redeemed. As soon as Rhea and Ecroy were out the way he knocked me unconscious and I was helpless. I'm sorry."

The turian pats the salarian on the back, "It wasn't your fault, it was mine. You know what he apparently did was dismissed by the Council as rumour. No one ever looked into it, but Krieg was there. I've heard of the effects of that bioweapon and know from my time in the military that they refused to use it."

"So what will you do?" Garahie asks curiously now the group are splitting.

"Well, I'm going to get you back into C-Sec, it's the least I can do but I'll cash in Tido's bounty and split it between me and Yentha's relatives. She took the bullet so I can't forget that." He answers though regretfully.

"You know the media will be all over you after this?" Garahie states before opening his omni-tool.

"Sure, but they'll never know the real truth. I have to make sure of that." He says before Difan approaches, "What is it?"

"Everyone's ready." The quairan informs before leading the pair back up to the briefing room.

On the top floor, the Briefing sustained little damage during the attack and many had gathered as they are about to be educated on the true goings on in the galaxy. Enti is being placed on his chair by two of his guards before they leave though All-Feather remains a servant and helps him get comfortable. On his left are his family consisting Difan and Zeki with the husband standing and the wife in the chair. Next to them is Tovoh who is sitting next to Agon while Ecory stands between them and Garahie between Ecroy and Difan. On the other side from them is Arlim with All-Feather standing between them while next to them sits Brutagus and finally Rhea.

Krieg is the last to enter and is accompanied by INC as he sits on the other end opposite Enti, "I believe you need to talk to me?"

Enti laughs weakly, "I think we all want something from you." He says while trying to sit up, "First of all, thank you for finding my son. He has been missing for so long I wondered if he was no more."

Krieg nods, "I helped him escape but he was willing to return the favour. Without him I wouldn't have found the Emissary's location."

Tovoh looks at the grey alien and speaks, "You are one of the few to have seen the Veteran in person. Ecroy was sent along with Brutagus and Yentha in attempt to move him but by my understanding he refused. Can you tell us why?"

"The Veteran was an Acolyte of Krinal. Due to circumstance even I don't know, he gave himself a task many centuries to wait for me and tell me of the truth." He says and notices that no one understands, "INC, show them."

INC releases an image that confuses them all as it wasn't the image of Sovereign but the Reaper Fleet itself and its trajectory from the Milky Way. Tovoh looks with interest while another hologram is generated of path that an old asari ship took during early times of the race's galactic travel.

"What is this?" Brutagus asks before looking at the fleet, "How many are there?"

"Too many. What you've see before you are the Reapers. You've heard the myths but this isn't. I verified the truth when I explored some prothean ruins and hacked into a data recording, it showed a world being blackened by massive warships."

"How could they have killed the protheans?" Zeki wonders and asks the question everyone has on their tongues.

Krieg reveals the answer, "Because they pull the biggest joke known to exist. The Mass Relays are coincidentally put beside a world where primitive life develops. From there when civilization reaches space travel, it is jumped centuries by acquiring Mass Relay Technology, technology only one race has time to build, the Reapers. All races sitting in this room and out in the galaxy have been tricked into an ambush."

"So how do they ambush us?" Brutagus asks.

"I don't know, all I know is that the Citadel and the Relays were not built by the protheans." He says and that wouldn't be revealed until Shepard discovers the answer on Ilos. INC begins showing scriptures in and ancient language, "This is an old prothean history text, stating how they found the relays."

"Transcribing prothean, that's a hard task isn't it?" Agon says as most have little knowledge on their legacy.

"The Veteran knew because he learned it from Krinal." Krieg reveals though how he acquired this is unknown but putting weight on Krinal's possible origin, "He like myself went on a similar quest and discovered the same thing but when I mentioned humanity he became confused."

"Humanity? What's so special about them?" Garahie wonders though with intrigue.

"Their Mass Relay was encased in ice and was nothing more than a moon to them until they discovered ruins on a nearby planet. This occurrence is a strange anomaly." Krieg states before showing a picture of the Sol System before and after, "From there they have recently built their empire but it's mysterious of how this occurred."

"Do you think the reapers did it? Or the protheans?" Rhea asks interested.

"Maybe, but it's not as important. The Reapers haven't made a move yet but Krinal seems to be catalyst for something else. It or she is working directly under a reaper named Nazara against a destroyed reaper program called 'Scythe'."

"And the asari were tricked in building the organisation from this program?" Tovoh asks and gets and agreeing nod from Krieg, "I see. This makes things interesting. What are Scythe's plans?"

"My theory is they're using my DNA to build a superior asari race and conquer the galaxy. I think Nazara has tasked Krinal to prevent it from happening." He theorises.

"I still don't get why a Reaper would destroy its own kind." Rhea asks herself.

"Makes perfectly good sense to me." Agon says and catches everyone's attention.

"You have an opinion Agon?" Tovoh asks willing to listen.

"Consider the krogan and how they tried to conquer the galaxy, the sheer numbers would have a been possible threat to the reapers. If Scythe builds this army, it may decide once it succeeds to turn on its own kind." The krogan says.

"But Krinal is more cunning. Unfortunately we can't do anything right now." Krieg says with regret and referring to the war.

"Not right now?" Rhea protests confused and almost disheartened with the amount of years she has put into following Krieg, "There's a war going on."

Krieg nods though is more understanding of the situation, "I suggest waiting for the wright time."

"When will that be?" Tovoh asks.

"When either Krinal or Scythe are on their last legs. They'll be weak and desperate. I can't fight these things now, not with what I have to do." He says referring to his responsibilities.

Tovoh stands and nods to Krieg, "We'll keep tabs on the war but when the time comes, we'll request you presence. We will send contingents of scout groups to observe the fighting and intercept messages from both factions."

"I can keep the Council away from this issue if need be. The asari won't like the bad press." Brutagus ensures as the asari can't have rumours regarding a secret supremacist organisation becoming public knowledge.

Arlim speaks for the first time, "We will return to our ship for now but we're willing to help you again if necessary. This 'reaper' is a threat to all life but if its brethren aren't moving, it means we're living on borrowed time."

Krieg nods, "I must also ask that you all keep this secret. No one will believe you anywat so there's no point in talking about it. Tovoh, you and you kind are secret enough and Wisps don't contact most life-forms but I must ask that Garahie and Brutagus research anything on these things using their resources as well." He says before getting a nod. He looks towards Enti, Difan and Zeki, "Can I trust you."

"You can, Krieg." Rhea says on their behalf, "This won't go beyond these walls." She says before Krieg nods to everyone and leaves the group to relax but Rhea decides to follow him.

Krieg was in fact attached to his child as he cradles the one-year old and smiles as he looks into her eyes. He can't help but think of what has transpired and what will happen in the future as he puts her back in the pod where it's safe. He has since taken Tido's old room because it was available but hasn't complained as he now has two possessions, his belt and his child. The grey alien puts on a coat that the Wisps made and it was baggy but also had a hood covered in feathers along with the shoulders.

Rhea leans against the doorways as he feels the coat in and smiles, "Feathers suit you." She says catching his attention. "How is she?"

Krieg is embarrassed but admits anyway, "Well, I know how to bathe her and feed her and All-Feather had clothes made for her so I owe him." He says nervously before looking at Rhea, "I'm sorry about this but you have to understand."

"Don't worry. Are you staying?" Rhea asks before noticing she is quite close to her friend.

"No?" he says quietly.

She looks at him with confusion, "No?"

"No." he says tilting his head towards the child, "I need to take here away from all this. After seeing what happened to Tido I realise that I can't be fighting an enemy and raise her, its one or the other."

"What about these Reapers that Krinal mentioned? And the war?" Rhea says holding his arms.

"The war will take care of itself until the final days. That's when I'll be needed." He says before being a bit more curious, "Come with me."

"Where? You going to take your child across the galaxy like you did me?" she says looking away from him and picturing the thought.

"No, I still have a load of credits from the heists we did and I managed to buy some land on Virmire." He reveals though how he acquired it is unknown.

"Virmire? Why there?" She reminds him.

"It's far from the fighting and out of the way from authorities. I contacted an Alliance company and they're transporting something's I'll need. They don't even know whose paying." He says before seeing that Rhea is disappointed, "What?"

"I thought you'd stay here after not seeing me all this time." She says before her chin is pulled up and feels her lips lock with Krieg's unsuspected. She closes her eyes and enjoys the moment before slowly breaking away. She blushes when looking in his eyes, "I should've-"

"I wasn't going to let you avoid it this time." He says before picking up the pod and walking out of the room leaving Rhea alone.

**2185- Rhea Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"You never told me you kissed him on the ship." Zeki says surprised at Rhea who again blushes at the moment as it was unexpected, "That's so sweet."

"Cut it out." Rhea says to the quarian along with Joker.

The human turns to Ecroy curious about the krogan's next assignment, "I bet your next mission wasn't so interesting?"

"You'd think? I was drafted into the scout teams and I watched a lot of the war in the following years. The Emissary released hordes of vorcha on the asari bases and combined with the orbital fire of the pirate ships was more than a match for the Duchess."

"How long did it last for?" Joker wonders about this secret history.

"Awhile, and the Council dismissed it as nothing more than pirate skirmishes." Ecroy states meaning Brutagus was successful in turning their attention away from them.

"And what happened with you?" he asks Zeki.

"Well, the Malal got repaired and Enti carried on as Captain though with both his sons he was much more capable in handling the ship. We recruited more crew of those who didn't want to go back to the Flotilla and the Wisps moved on not long after." She reveals and putting relief on the issue, "Rhea stayed and became our medic."

Joker looks at Rhea who thinks about her time aboard the Malal, "Did you miss him? The life? The adventures?"

Rhea smiles as she remembers that things were about to change, "I kept in touch with Krieg a little but he was focused and after a whole year we stopped talking. The war was still going on but something unexpected happened and changed the war."…

**16/11/2164- Casbin, Hong System, Armstrong Nebula**

The asari Scythe were being pushed back on the battlefield by the vorcha hordes. Despite being husked, the twisted aliens were able to carry weapons as they shoot the retreating asari. These beings would commit suicide if the target was plenty with one jumping into a group and explodes while the others remaining targeting loose soldiers. They were supported by pirate ships above as the aliens that inhabited them fire upon the stronghold below. The horde were aiming for a huge dome complex covered in turrets surrounded by large spires with particle cannons on top though their fire wasn't enough for the combined might of husk and ship.

Acolytes were also on the field as Jotan fires his assault rifle at a group of asari who have retreated to a trench while Yox charges through a group and head-butts a Captain before shooting another two troops. They were both wearing a holographic glove on their left arm and it served them well. The batarian moves his arm and directs a horde of vocha towards an artillery vehicle only for it to be overwhelmed as the aliens continue to kill whoever lay in their way.

Krinal was also present during this assault but wore a full battle-suit in a jet black colour. The suit was slim and the armour more-featured were the shoulders, elbows and knees while her boots were heeled and helmet was merely a mask of her own face. She carries no weapons and stands on a hovering platform with Juna who has reverted to a beautiful form but also donning armour.

The Emissary turns to the turian, "The horde is approaching the dome, tell Sintarrio to create a clearing.

Juna nods and uses her built in cybernetics to give the order. The turian himself was in his spike form fighting along the pirate ships towards a small Scythe fleet above but he dives towards the atmosphere and nearer the dome's location. Sintarrio dive is incredible in haste and releases multiple balls of energy before moving out of the way. The targets are the surrounding spires and the energy balls make contact with small mushroom clouds appearing on impact.

Krinal watches as the vorcha have no obstacles left, "Order the Horde Leaders to leave no survivors. This is the last stronghold that remains in this system and then we can relax for a while."

"Yes, Emissary. I'll tell Sintarrio to return to the battle above." The former spectre says before looking again at the destruction that has been repeated dozens of times over by Krinal's campaign.

On the other side of the galaxy Rhea is within the Malal and the ship has since had a few upgrades and within the medical bay in particular. The equipment was in much better condition and the facilities were cleaner. The asari herself is currently checking up on a little quarian who has already had suit made though it is of limited capacity. The quarian girl was wearing a white-strapped black-suit like her mother leaning against the nearby table. Zeki had been pregnant and had a girl and has stayed on the Malal due to her husband's duties.

Rhea takes the girl's mask off and puts it on the table, "Okay, Mehoa. Open your mouth." She asks and checks the quarian before grabbing her mask, "Okay, put that back on." she says and the quarian does before walking over to her mother.

Zeki crouches to her level, "That wasn't so bad was it?"

"Can I see daddy now?" she asks and her mother smiles.

"Go on." and the little quairan runs out of the room. Zeki turn to Rhea and sits on a nearby chair, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, just a little cold that's all." Rhea reveals before switching the nearby screen on and looking at the local news. "How's Difan? I don't see him much these days."

Zeki sighs and leans against the chair, "He's busy most of the time. Enti won't let him do any pirate stuff on the Frigates with Chek but I still don't see him enough." She says though doesn't sound completely happy.

Rhea turns and sees a friend who feels lonely as she sits next to her and holds her hand, "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"But Enti won't." Zeki says and Rhea looks away in shame, "What's wrong with him, Rhea? He's had to rely on Difan more than ever."

"I can't say, Zeki. Doctor-Patient confidentiality and all that." She says as the final word and holds her hand tightly, "Next time he comes in I'll tell him you're concerned but other than that, it's up to him."

Zeki hears something on the screen and looks up, "Hey, listen to this."

"_Welcome to Citadel Newsnet. The final verdict came today on the Citadel when Oristar Brutagus, the Spectre made famous for killing the infamous mercenary Tido shot a journalist in the leg within his hotel room. The Spectre was found not guilty due to the turian giving evidence showing that human journalist and well-known Terra Firma supporter, Miles Cole, was attempting to hack into classified Council files including those of Mister Brutagus. Due to Council Law the journalist now faces several charges and could serve a prolonged amount of time within a Council Prison. The Alliance has attempted to intervene but the Turian Ambassador has stated 'All aliens that follow the laws of the Council are expected to follow those laws, including humanity'."_

Rhea smiles and thinks of irony, "And he said he wanted to keep a low profile?" she says before standing and walking with Zeki out of the medical bay and up towards the top level, "Don't worry about Difan, I'm sure he'll give you some private time when he has some." She reassures before seeing that outside the briefing room was a krogan in bronze armour.

The asari and the quarian approach the room and the armoured krogan doesn't stop them as they enter to see Enti conversing with some old friends. Agon was sitting next to Enti and next to him was Ecroy. Rhea smiles while she walks up to her old traveling partner and hugs him and gives Agon and handshake before noticing that this wasn't a regular visit. She hadn't seen either of them since they left three years prior.

Ecory speaks first, "Time has been good for both of us."

Rhea looks at his expression and sees something has happened, "What's happened?"

He looks to Agon, "We've had information that a Scythe force is near the Hoc System."

Rhea looks at the superior krogan, "Near Krieg? Does he know?"

Agon sighs before walking over to the window, "We don't. Some of our scout ships have detected interference with communications?"

Rhea fears the worst as she sits down, "But they don't know he's there, no one expect us." She says before thinking to herself on what to do with this information. "Are you going to find him?"

Agon nods, "Yes, but we need you to help speak with him. Krieg hasn't exactly been friendly the past the few years, he doesn't except many visitors. Even Lord Tovoh was denied out of fear."

Ecroy leans against the wall, "So, are you up for it? You'll be our only way in."

Rhea stands immediately, "Yes, yes. When do we leave?"

"We have the ship ready and a group of my guys. We'll be dropped off and trek on foot." Ecroy informs her. "I don't know if he'll be friendly but this can't be ignored. We knew it would only be a matter of time."


	43. Rekindled Souls

**Chapter XLIII: Rekindled Souls**

**24/11/2164- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Rhea, Ecroy and a small group of krogan are venturing through a forest on one of the tropical islands within the southern hemisphere with only a small contingent of troops. The pair was not expecting any hostility and Rhea herself wore only the most basic of attire consisting of a grey tank-top, blue pants and a boots while carrying her backpack with supplies but held her weapon in the assault rifle form. Ecroy was the same and wore only light armour with his arms bare and carriesonly a shotgun. Being krogan they didn't need much food and the water was plenty anyway.

The group reaches a small river leading to a waterfall and decide to stop there for a awhile. The asari takes off her backpack and sits on a nearby log while Ecroy leans against tree to think to himself while telling the troops to relax. Rhea takes a flask of water out of her backpack and takes only a few sips before looking out to the opening of the forest towards the shoreline. She thinks about her friend and what he has been doing these last few years as she doesn't know too much only that he is here.

A krogan with a red crest and the markings of an exile approaches Ecroy in deep though, "Commander, I've just had word from the scout party ten miles ahead. They've found a settlement built into the cliff-face. We can assume that this is his position."

Ecroy nods, "Very good, Likosh. Carry on." The krogan approaches Rhea and sits next to her, "I bet you're nervous?"

Rhea faces him and smiles at the question, "Why do you think that?"

"You haven't seen him for three and half years. Even to species like us that's a long time." Ecroy says before being passed the flask and takes a drink.

Rhea thinks to herself before answering, "Do you think he's changed?"

The krogan shrugs, "Maybe. This is a strange place to hide. It's nice though." He remarks admiring the beauty of the planet. "Come on. A settlement has been located ten miles ahead. We may be close." He says helping her up.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula **

Joker watches as Zeki yawns and by waving her hand signals that she is going to go to sleep as Ecroy does the same. The krogan however first addresses the business of removing his arm and does so with ease as he places it on the table and walks towards a free room. Joker is strangely disgusted and intrigued by the act though again he is left with Rhea.

He checks his watch which is on galactic standard time, "It's late, we've talking all day again."

Rhea smiles as she pours herself a bottle of wine while inhaling a cigarette, "You should get some sleep too."

"I think I will." He says before heading towards the room he has occupied for the last few days, "Night."

Rhea waves her hand but her mind is on that time she was searching for Krieg. Unlike before she wasn't desperate and knew where the grey alien dwelled but for both of them it had been years since they last saw each other face to face…

**24/11/2164- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

The troops under Ecroy's command are lying on their fronts facing a nearby cliff face that had a view of the open ocean. Their position was nearby but not on the same island as Rhea looks through her binoculars and observes what looks to her as a few building built into the cliff though there is no entrance from the shore below but a landing pad above for shuttles. Ecroy holds his men as he is unsure whether this is the settlement they've been looking for or just a home to a privateer.

The only structure on the ground above the cliff is a small watchtower though its current condition gives an impression it was a civilian outpost due to its lack of defences. The bottom of the tower couldn't be seen due to the forests covering the front but had a good view of their position none-the-less.

However on the other side, the watchtower has spotted the band of krogan and the asari and deploys the automated defences as parts of the cliff begins to open and exiting these opeings are double-barrelled turrets and they turn to face them. Ecroy signals to reframe firing while in the trees behind them figures begin to climb down and they are light on their feet. The krogan are completed surrounded and the only way to escape is jumping off the cliff but they do not know this. The figures approach slowly and cautiously while holding their rifles and before the krogan can face them a holographic bayonet retracts from each rifle, close to each member of the group.

Rhea turns over immediately uses her biotics to pushes the figure in front of her back into a nearby tree. When she stands she sees only quarians wearing tidy uniforms. These aliens had grey cloth on their person and over these were plates in a dark blue colour. Another unique features are their feathered headdresses similar to someone she knew. That person happens to say a word from top of a tree and the quarians retract their bayonets. All-Feather jumps down from his tree and he himself has new armour like the rest of his troop but unlike them keeps wearing his feathered-coat and his old rifle.

As he approaches he nods to Rhea, "All-Feather? What are you doing here?"

The quarian directs one of his troop to aid him in talking and to her, he speaks and then the female translates, "It nice to see again, Blue-Bride. We were just on an exercise when we saw your scouting party and assumed you were the enemy."

The asari smiles at their caution, "No, we're just here to find Krieg. He said that he has settled around here."

All-Feather continues being translated, "He is. Grey-Groom owns the base here."

"Base?" Ecroy says standing up and wiping the dirt from his arms, "I thought this was his home?"

The female soldier speaks to All-Feather and gets a nod from her superior, "Yes, this is his home but it also is ours, his army. If you allow us, well escort you to the premises." She offers and All-Feather orders them to help the krogan up and escort them.

Inside the complex which Krieg calls his home the grey alien himself is currently with INC with a huge open room. The room is Krieg's personal space where in the last three years the grey alien's has had the opportunity to carry on with more personal hobbies. The room itself has a half-cylinder shape with a single open window facing the ocean but covered by a waterfall.

Towards the back of the room the place was covered in scrap and had much debris with some of Krinal's drones being among them. He has also been working on vehicles that have been transported to him as there was an air-car with the doors open and next to that was a human buggy that was once used by Alliance ground forces. The room even housed a Mako-like transport which was in bad condition.

Next to these were other collectables throughout his life including the N7 armour he wore on Shanxi and the attire worn during Korlus. His belt was draped over the top of the N7 suit but behind these was an armoury with various weapons stashed neatly and unused along with his spear. Next to this happened to be his bed which gave the impression that he was very pre-focused on his work and had numerous books on the floor and in piles along with more contemporary forms of literature. A console was on the desk and next to that was a picture of both Rhea and himself while next to it was Rhea holding his daughter in the Malal.

He himself was on top of the vehicle with a panel exposed as he wears only some overalls on his lower half while INC passes him a tool to carry on his work. Krieg had changed since three years ago and look at bit more relaxed but he also hadn't kept himself very tidy as his beard scales had grown down to his chest and were braded into four long tentacles shapes while his spiny hear had grown longer. His head spines that grew as an extension of his eyebrows are the same.

"Processing: Incoming Message from All-Feather." INC states catching Krieg's attention.

He looks up and raises and eyebrow, "Nothing serious I hope?"

"Information: Commander Ecroy and a party of krogan have arrived and wish an audience." The machine informs.

Krieg jumps off the vehicle and pulls the top half of his overalls over his arms, "Come on, we better see them." He says directing the machine towards an elevator that heads up to the nearest level to the surface.

The krogan and Rhea are on the other island with All-Feather's group and the watchtower itself is one of a few entrances into this base. Instead of an elevator the group enter and see two flights of stairs one heading down and the other head up. They take the former and All-Feather leads them into what they have now called home. From their view these wasn't a home but a training facility as the group start walking across the balcony and see a courtyard built into the ground with a sunroof above, allowing light to pass through. From the balcony they see dozens of Wisps training in hand-to-hand combat as well as melee techniques while they continue.

The next room they pass is a shooting range and a familiar face lecturing them. Brutagus had been keeping out of public eye since the court case and has resorted to training Wisps in combat while he talks to a quarian and shows how better hold the weapon. Rhea looks at the turian who hasn't changed that much since they last met though his more civilian attire is giving a less serious feel to him.

When finally entering a foyer of they see an elevator and exiting is Krieg himself who had already began smoking a cigar while conversing with INC who then breaks away to another location. The grey alien looks up to see some familiar faces and shakes Ecroy's hand. When he turns to face Rhea he freezes as he didn't expect her to have accompanied them.

"I'm sorry. INC informed me about All-Feather's training exercise. We were just being cautious." He informs.

Ecroy shakes his head, "No worries, we have similar procedures. Quite a base you've got here."

"Well, I haven't finished yet. Another year and it'll be complete." Krieg informs before approaching Rhea, "Hey."

She weakly smiles before receiving a kiss on the check though this transaction is awkward for both of them, "You look well."

"I feel it." He says before directing them towards the left and into a more comfortable area, "You haven't sent any messages recently." He remarks.

"I've been busy." Rhea says though isn't exactly telling the truth.

Krieg turns to All-Feather's translator, "Make sure Ecroy's troop have accommodation and some food. They're levo-acids so remind the cooks." And gets nod before only Ecroy and Rhea continue with him. "I admit, the fact you've found me means only one thing."

"No, the war continues, surprisingly. I think Krinal underestimated the Duchess." Ecroy informs while they are escorted into a briefing room with a view of the ocean and take seats near one end of the ship. "This isn't a visit. I've came hear personally on orders from Tovoh to discuss a matter with you."

Krieg sits down at the head with a curious look, "Well, how can I help?" he asks before looking to Rhea who feels like she should say something, "What's wrong?"

Rhea turns to Ecroy and nods and allows him to continue, "We have detected a Scythe presence with this cluster. We don't know if they know you're here but our messages have been blocked by something."

Rhea continues as Krieg turns to him, "Remember when you said that the asari wanted you for their but the mutation made your purpose void. We think that they're here for someone else. Your daughter is here, right?"

Krieg gives and concerned face before leaning forward, "She is, where else would she be. How did they even know I was here?"

"We don't know but it's likely that they may attack. They could've been planning this for years." Ecroy admits.

"It's strange. I thought we'd be safe here. I'll warn the settlement and post addition guards but in the case of an attack, I can't say we're ready." Krieg admits, "Follow me."

Krieg is quick to get off his feet and leads the pair towards an elevator. They enter and within seconds they are within a different room inside the base. This room unlike the other was more salarian in design and the machine had symbols of the language and it was full of medical beds. The design was a foyer and then two rows of six beds and a door leading to another room while on the left as they exit the foyer was hallway that leads to more specialised treatment. Rhea is amazed at the equipment they have at their disposal while passing a theatre for surgery and a group of quarians doing a dummy procedure.

"Those are our trainees. Doctor Taldra was willing to teach basic medical lectures to the group as well as field experience." He states.

"I've heard of him." Rhea says while observing the group, "He was a surgeon for the STG. Very well respected. How did you get him?"

Krieg faces her, "Brutagus helped me with that. He used his connections and Doctor Taldra is a private person anyway." The grey aliens lead the pair towards a room where the salarian himself was currently.

The salarian had a bluish skin colour. He wore official medical clothing for his race but a feature that was automatically seen by both Ecroy and Rhea was a lazy eyebrow on his right side giving him a more common look. He also makes a strange chewing noise and by his manner is very calm.

"Doctor Taldra, it's me." Krieg says before bringing Ecroy and Rhea inside.

The salarian stands up slowly to observe the pair and recognises Rhea, "Well, you've certainly come a long way for a member of the Citadel Medical Association. I read the thesis you gave during you time as a student. It sparked interest when the Council accused you of murder." He looks at Krieg, "What do you want? I'm…busy."

Krieg begins to speak, "Arakon-"

"Put that human-thing out in my office, Krieg." He says with his dull voice, "I like to keep a healthy clinic, wouldn't you Doctor T'Anya?"

Krieg looks at Rhea and she reluctantly agrees by nodding, "Alright." His says putting it out on Arakon's desk, "I need you to put the medics on alert, we maybe encountering hostiles."

Arakon sighs and sits down, "Krieg, I've told you. They're not ready for this type of pressure. They're good, but not that good yet."

"Then make them ready. We'll need them if something happens. That's what you're here for." The grey alien clarifies.

Arakon looks at the group and nods, "I let them know but I warn you Krieg, if your soldiers are any good they'll avoid getting shot. That's a little thing they say in STG." He says leading them all outside before closing the door.

Ecroy looks at pair and nods, "I'm going to join my troops. I'll let you catch up."

Rhea looks blindly at the door and what just happened, "He isn't what I expected."

"Arakon, he's just doing his job." He says before walking with her, "How is everyone on the Malal?"

"Fine. They're nice to me and I can be just a medic now." She says before asking a more personal question, "Where is she?"

Krieg looks at her briefly before facing forward, "She's around here somewhere. INC's gone to find her."

"Doesn't she get lonely here?" Rhea asks remarking the facility.

"Not really, the Wisp families live in a settlement five miles away and she has friends to play with. Do you want to see her?" Krieg asks though nervously.

"If you don't mind." She says before they enter the elevator again.

Krieg presses the keypad in order to take them back to the level they were on previously, "I've just realised. You haven't seen her since we found her."

"No. Is she healthy?" she wonders.

"Very, Krinal was wright. She doesn't have any mutations like me but we shouldn't talk about that right now. I told INC to bring her to me so…" he says before the doors open and they quickly pace down the hallway back into the foyer of the base. Krieg looks around and waits while Rhea crosses her arms. "She should be here. Where is she?"

Asking that question the sound of footsteps can be heard running down the hallway as well as INC and they are racing. The machine was in front and passes both Rhea and Krieg before swooping around to join them but before Krieg can turn back something jumps into his arms and the sound of laughter can be heard behind Krieg. Rhea approaches the grey alien awaits for him to turn around and show her what was clinging onto him.

It was a little grey alien with wiry long hair with the features of Krieg before his mutations. The small girl had matured similar to a human but unlike Krieg she had white irises like her mother with black pupils and the clothes she wore were made by the Wisps as her pants were baggy but had shin-cuffs on the lower half with her feet covered only in wraps. On her upper half, the child wore a t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Krieg holds his daughter properly and smiles while approaching Rhea, "Yenea, this is Rhea. She is a friend of mine."

Rhea smiles and scans her face, "Hello. You've grown so much."

"Now, Yenea. What is Rhea?" Krieg asks though only gets a whisper from her, "An asari, yes. Say hello."

"Hello." She responds though soft and nervous, "You're from Dad's picture."

Rhea looks to Krieg for more detail, "She's seen a few pictures of us. Yenea, what have I told you about racing in the hallways?"

"You said not to do it." She answer looking down, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about." He says before glaring at INC, "Don't encourage her."

"Negative." The machine replies before fleeing the scene.

Krieg sighs before turning to his daughter, "Go and play." He say lets her drop and follow INC. He turns to Rhea embarrassed, "Sorry. She's a bit shy around strangers."

Rhea crosses her arms and smiles, "Dad? It's nice to see a different side of you. I bet you feel grounded with her to look after?"

Krieg smiles before walking a bit closer, "Quite the opposite. I haven't really been off world that much in the past three years but I go occasionally to get supplies and that's it." He says but steps back a little, "Do you want to see what I've been up to?" he asks and leads her to his quarters.

Not long later inside Krieg workshop, Rhea watches as Krieg is setting up a piece of equipment. He is currently working on a device for himself and it is built the form a sleeve so he can fit his right arm into it. The machine looks like a prototype as it consist of two light metal straps the fit across his bicep and triceps and the other across his forearm. The glove was built with a strange circle built on the palm of it while the fingers are cut. This apparatus had wires coming out of it and at this time was attached to a monitor with various measures of power. It was placed on top of a moving tray as he pulled it so that it faces the waterfall which the window has been opened for the demostration.

Rhea sits on a chair by the desk and watches Krieg's enthusiasm as he positions the device to make sure it's at the perfect angle, "So, what is it?"

Krieg smiles and walks to her grabbing her hand and bringing her over, "During our travels I used to give INC possible ideas so I could develop them if I had the chance. This is a device that will help me in the future."

Rhea raises an eyebrow and looks at the machine, "You kind of have nailed it to this tray."

Krieg shakes his head and decides instead of demonstrating he'll do something else, "Here." He says grabbing her right arm and placing it in the glove while he begins to the strap the metal onto her arm.

Rhea was taken by surprise as laughs while he does this, "I thought you were doing this."

"You're a biotic too so why don't you try before you dismiss it." He says before finishing and holds her waist from the other side, "Okay, generate a little biotic energy and look at the metres below."

Rhea is at first a bit taken aback this request but shrugs it off as she creates a small amount of biotic energy and sees the metres are beginning to rise. "The metre goes up, what's the big deal."

Krieg smiles as he switches on a button by the wrist of the glove, "Now, use you biotics and focus it through the hand." He says and watches as Rhea follows his order.

Rhea doesn't expect what happens next as a blue beam fires out of the palm and through the waterfall. She is both amazed at not only the beam but the fact that the light seemed to part the waterfall as it hit. "Whoa, what was that?"

"It's a solid beam. When it hits an object it continues pushing against it. I've made so that the amount of biotic energy you channel through it, the more powerful the blast." He reveals while untying her.

Rhea has her arm released and holds it, "Does it work on living things?" she wanders.

"I practiced on some old Scythe drones I fixed, destroys them within an instant due to the pressure." Krieg says as Rhea leans back on the tray and crosses her arms, "What?"

"This is what you've been doing the past three years? Building toys?" she says before walking to the desk and sitting down, "You don't seem to do much other than that. Don't you spend time with your daughter?"

Krieg wipes his hands and sits on the bed, "All the time but even I need some time alone so she has the whole forest to play in and there's her friends."

"Friends? She's the only child I've seen here." Rhea states before Krieg continues.

"No she isn't. Some families are living in a nearby settlement we set up. She has some friends there." He explains, "I'm doing my best Rhea."

"I didn't say you weren't…you've just…you're acting…more mature." She says though it wasn't the best word to describe him.

Krieg leans on his desk and nods, "Mature? I've been called worse." Before Rhea can speak he interrupts, "Now look who's been sweet? Listen, I wonder if you want to come to a get together tonight?"

"Just us?" Rhea wonders suspicious.

Krieg catches on and defends himself, "No, no. Every few days me and a few people get together to talk like friends I suppose. Brutagus is coming, Arlim, Arakon and Filestra."

Rhea hears the last name, "Filestra? The Acolyte? You know how dangerous that is?"

"Former Acolyte by the way. And she's a mother now and her son is friends with my daughter." He sighs, "I should explain. After you released Filestra I decided to contact her because I knew she wouldn't last long in the galaxy without Krinal finding her. I offered her a placed training the troops here. Her knowledge of Acolyte Warfare is needed as well as the Scythe themselves. You can trust her. So will you come? Ecroy can come too."

Rhea nods in agreement though it came as surprise, "Okay. I'll be there."

On the beach where Rhea and Ecroy's group arrived, the markings of where the shuttle landed are still visible but only to their disadvantage. Walking across the shore are Scythe troopers wearing their full armour only in forest camouflage. A small group observe and nod as they head back to their superior who like every other trooper was emerging from the shore. This was a small invasion force and the group consisted of two hundred troops ready to be sent towards the enemy. The squads consisted of twenty troops with two holding heavy weapons as well as a sidearm while the others carry assault rifles. Each squad had a Lieutenant as well and every four squads had a Captain.

The one leading them was an asari Commander as she takes her helmet off and awaits her transport. She takes out a small device and opens a hologram to her superior, General Dahria, "General, we've made it to the shore line. We've located the base and we have intelligence that confirms both Krieg's and the child's location."

"Very good, Commander. Krieg as you know should be killed on sight, the child however needs to be kept alive. This will turn the war around on the Emissary. You have your orders." And the hologram fades.

The Commander puts the device away and turns one of her captains, "Bring the artillery out and clear the root for it." She says before leading on.

Krieg stands in his bathroom situated near his bed and looks at himself in the mirror. He notices that he is not looking his best as picks up a pair scissor and starts cutting down some of beard tendrils. The hardened skin didn't cause any pain as he cuts them a little so that the front two are equal length and the back two are little shorter before taking off the little rubber bands that hold them together. On his sink he has many cylinder-shaped bobbles and pick one up to prepare himself.

He twists three of his tendrils clockwise and pushes the cylinder over them to hold them together, he repeats so that each lock has two on each three-tendrils before doing the same with his black spiny-hair. By the end he looks at himself to see the gold patterned pieces gave him more regal look than before with his hair parted three-ways so two were draped over front of his shoulders. He then puts on a black shirt with white edges that by the make and were more more-tailored to fit him as the grey-alien could wear human clothing. The shirt opens enough to see his neck and some of his chest while he puts on his pants and jacket, both a dark grey.

While Krieg gets himself ready some of the other guest have already arrived at the lounge and are helping themselves to drinks. As with each time they meet they dress formally and this wasn't an exception for Brutagus and Arakon wore suits while Filestra wore a long white blouse. Arlim wore a suit similar to his regular one only the cloth was tidier and finely tailored. Krieg arrives not long after they've began talking and Brutagus is talking about the recent developments.

"The war doesn't exist according to the Council, who don't go that far near the Attican Traverse anyway. The Human Alliance has taken recording but their technology is less advanced to really make any real reconnaissance." He informs.

Arakon takes a drink, "I'm surprised to honest. STG won't touch it if it doesn't concern them either. What about you Filestra? How would Krinal block the war?"

Filestra speaks up, "Krinal isn't like the Shadow Broker, dirt on people doesn't matter. Normally it's done through a middle-guy though they work for Krinal, keeps the Broker off the trail. What do you think-" she is about to ask Krieg but his attention is elsewhere.

His trail of thought is stopped when Rhea enters the room escorted by Ecroy but what she is wearing he thought would be the last thing she would ever wear after the reason he took it in the first place. It was the dress he stole from Bylok's wife and the asari had kept it all this time and brought incase of something like this. The dress was long and had a cut on the left leg while her whole back was exposed. Krieg couldn't help but look at the asari's cleavage though she was wearing neck and wrist jewellery to add to the otherwise plain look.

Krieg looks away in irony while Rhea approaches him, "I didn't think you'd keep it."

She puts her hand on his arm and rubs gently, "I liked it. I haven't worn it before so you're the first to see me in it. Come on, let's sit down." She says taking a glass and the bottle while Krieg follows as the two sit next two each other while the other continue while Ecroy gets what's going on decides to keep himself away. "You look handsome."

Krieg sits opposite her and smiles, "You're not uncomfortable?"

Rhea smiles while taking a sip and lighting a cigarette, "No. I'll be honest I have always been curious about this…situation, but it's nice. relaxed"

Krieg leans back and thinks about all the opportunities he's had, "After all this time I ask now. I should've asked as soon as I met you to go on a date of some kind."

"Well, it's not like you didn't have a chance. You don't seem as angry as you used to." Rhea says knowing that Krieg is surprisingly calmer than usual.

"I have nothing to be angry about anymore." He looks outside and towards the sunset, "I have everything I want right here, almost."

"Listen, I'm sorry for being…resistant to you." She says as many of Krieg's previous advances were interrupted or ignored intentionally.

"I understand. I'm not exactly the common alien to begin with so who can blame you?" He states feeling pity on himself before leaning towards her drinking some brandy, "You've had relationships before so why should I care." he sees the looks of shame on her face but reassures her, "Tido made it clear about you and him before he died and then there was Thalian."

"You knew?" she asks though putting two and two together it made sense, "Of course you knew, that's why you never mentioned Shanxi."

"I didn't want to hurt you. I'll admit I was jealous. I could've had someone of my own in Krinal but it didn't feel wright." Krieg admits referring to Krinal.

"You sacrificed a chance for family…because of me." Rhea says shocked at Krieg's choice.

"Rhea, Krinal may have flesh and blood, and may be Yenea's mother and I might be able to have children with her. The only thing is, she's not you." He says and becoming more nervous, "You were there for me when I needed you and didn't give up on me when I wasn't."

"I guess I could say the same about you." She says and remembers all that he's helped her with, "Imagine if I wasn't on that ship when you escaped?"

Krieg shakes his head, "I try not to. The past three years have been good to me. I've been able to do stuff I've wanted to do since I awoke. I've made friends rather than allies and had a chance to give my daughter an actually childhood." He leans back and smiles, "I have peace, in a way."

"Is that why you don't want to go and fight Krinal?" Rhea asks knowing he is resistant.

"Sort of." He answers, "But enough of all the down stuff, we should be celebrating." He says before getting closer, "Too our future success." And they drink their brandy.

Arakon intervenes, "Doctor T'Anya. I wonder if you would like to join me in the medical wing tomorrow and assist me?"

Rhea looks to Krieg who latter has no knowledge, "Is that okay?"

Arakon further informs her, "It's nothing serious. I would just like your take on their progress. It very rare we get an outside opinion. Maybe they'll learn something."

"That's what Krieg said when he brought me in" Filestra states before turning to Rhea, "Sorry, I haven't seen you in a long while."

"No we haven't. How have you been?" Rhea asks feeling comfortable.

"Good. Being here is less of stress but I have more selfish reasons." The turian admits thinking about Krinal.

"I hear you have a son?" Rhea inquires further.

"Lilk? Yes, he plays with Yenea a lot. He's unexpected but Krieg was in the same position so he had sympathy." She states and with thanking smile to him. "I'll introduce him sometime."

"Sure." She says smiling before turning to Krieg, "You did that for her?" She asks before being forward and playing with his hair. Rhea smiles and finishes her brandy before putting the glass down but she hears her name being called.

"Rhea?" says Arlim, "May I just say that you look very appealing this evening."

Rhea smiles embarrassed and takes her hand off Krieg, "Thank you. How is everyone?"

"They are good. All-Feather and my sister-in-law have been blessed with a child as well as taking care of Xera's." he informs them, "A boy."

"Congratulations, Do you miss being on a ship?" she wonders.

"Not at all. My family is here, and we like it. Krieg has been very good to us." He says in the alien's favour.

Rhea turns her attention back to him, "You are a good guy are you?" she says taking another sip of brandy poured for her.

"He's built us a place to live to call our own. He's blessed by the stars themselves." Arlim says before carrying on talking to Ecroy, Brutagus, Arakon and Filestra.

Krieg is embarrassed again and stands to stretch but looks out to the horizon of the setting sun. He is feeling guilty due to Arlim's words his life here is more redemption than charity and he knows it as he quietly dismisses himself from the room and begins walking down the hallway.

Rhea is quick to leave also and hurries to him, "Krieg? What's wrong?"

Krieg turns around ashamed, "I'm… I'm sorry. I'm just tired." He says before turning around but the warmth of Rhea hand grabbing his catches his attention, "Not now."

"Was it what Arlim said?" she asks hoping for an answer, "You shouldn't take it seriously."

"But I do, Rhea. It reminds me about the time I met the Veteran and he asked me a question that I couldn't understand." He says swallowing his pride, "He asked me whether or not I have a soul? A geth once ask that and it began a war. Sometimes I think I'm like them, something created not born."

"You don't know that, Krieg." Rhea says bringing him in closer putting her hands on his shoulders, "I don't know that either but from what I know you…" she tries to use the wright words can't bring them out for him as he lets go of her and head back to his quarters.

Brutagus walks out the room as he noticed Krieg's sudden exit. He walks up to Rhea as she turns around, "You okay?"

Rhea looks up and puts on a brave face, "Yeah. Krieg's tired. He's going to bed."

"He's not tired, Rhea." Brutagus claims and sees through her, "He's like this sometimes. He plagues his own mind when he doesn't work on his machines. I've been coming here for over three years and I know what he's going through." He admits, "When you travel, you leave the world behind you but when you stop, it catches up." He says before walking back to the room and leaving Rhea to think on his words.

Later, Krieg lies in his bed within the massive workshop he calls home thinking about how the night went for him. He knew it could have gone better or worse with his conversation with Rhea but he knew that now his own daughter would always be his number one even over the person he loves. He sighs and turns to the waterfall and looks through the window at the night sky that is clear for the eye to see but his focus is drawn away by the sound of the door opening.

He looks up and sees Rhea in a robe though he doesn't quite understand what exactly she is doing here. The asari walks barefooted across the cold floor towards him and as he sits up she pushes him down gently and climbs on top of him. She places her hand between his body and arms and looks into his eyes while biting her lip.

"What are you doing?" he whispers though watches as she takes off her robe and reveals she is naked underneath.

She leans in comes closer to his face until she can feel her nose rubbing his, "Do you love me?" she asks though is nervous and waits for him to answer but she doesn't get a reply. She lifts her head looks into his eyes, "I..."

Krieg sits up and kisses her long-time companion though she is quick to lay him down again. The kiss is longer and more intense than he realises and starts to become more and more aggression as he roles Rhea over onto her back. He lifts himself up and looks at her but instead of being afraid she smiles and brings him in again. They wrestle their tongues until the grey alien moves to her neck and bites gently due to his sharper teeth. The asari bits her lip as he peaks down to her left breast and feels his forked-tongue on her.

She wraps her legs around his waist before feeling him enter her as her eyes turn black and feels intense pressure. At first he moves slowly and keeps pace while carrying on kissing her while she enjoys every second. Rhea lets out a weak moaning while hearing the much lower grunts of Krieg as he feels inside her. His manner starts to become faster and more aggressive as he brings her legs up over his shoulders and hold her ankles while she smiles and lets him keep going.

For her the sound of his feral side is making more and more wanting as he continues. She looks up to him and then finally begins to feel the climax, "Faster." She whispers while breathing and fells her legs move back down as Krieg puts his head next her and continues pleasuring her.

Krieg lets out one last sound in parallel with Rhea's scream and the grey alien breathes while holding himself up with his arms and watching her eyes turn to normal. He exits her and roles back to the other side of the bed before put his right-hand behind his head. He feels as Rhea drapes an arm over his rough chest and rests her on his shoulder. Krieg thinks to himself he finally knows as he closes his eyes and falls asleep.

The settlement that is situated miles away from Krieg's base is currently still in development. Most of the buildings are finished but its position within the forest keeps them hidden. The homes of Wisps are built in domed-form with most of the inside underground while some buildings were of more generic taste. Most of the lighting surrounding the settlement is currently turned off in case of detection. The civilians however were not left defenceless as some patrols were stationed there and one guard in particular was exposed to the Scythe.

Within the forest the Scythe troops were approaching very slowly with their rifles primed for an attack. The Captain of this unit is waiting for the signal to ambush the settlement but her plan had not yet started. In front of their position, a small squad of troops had been dispatched to take out a few enemy guards to give them an advantage. Each trooper is precise in their target and within seconds the guards have fallen to gun fire. Captain gives the order to contain them and make sure no one escapes. They halt however when they hear the sound of a transport arriving and wait for it to land.

Arlim had arrived back from his recent get together and the Wisp was ready to return to his family but as he gets out of the air-car provided for him he see a lying member of his race in the distance and runs to her. He holds her in his arms and notices the multiple wounds in her chest but freezes when the Scythe themselves appear ready to continue.

When Rhea opens her eyes she sees that it is mourning as the sun was up and the light was shining through the waterfall. However her attention is towards the bed as Krieg was no longer by her side and is nowhere within sight. She reaches for her robe and puts it on while walking towards the waterfall and attempting look outside towards the ground to see if Krieg was out there but he wasn't. Her mind can't stop thinking about the night before as she had finally admitted what she was afraid of while feeling alleviated.

She turns when hearing a sound from near the bathroom and walks over to see if Krieg was inside. He wasn't but the noise was coming from there as she looks next to the doorway near his desk and sees a small trapdoor. Curious, she opens it and the sound becomes much louder but the only way down is via a ladder.

She climbs down and into what looks to her a strange type of armoury as it was small but had many machines that could be found in factories. The lights were on only dim as she walks towards the biggest portion and sees Krieg with a blow-torch working again. She watches as the grey aliens wear only his overalls and is finishing what looks like the final product of the sleeve he was working on prior.

The sleeve had a similar design though the metal straps had been reduces into small piece so the strap could be flexibly put on and same was accounted for on the forearm. He then covers the forearm with a guard and fits perfectly over it and has a colour similar to his skin while the mesh underneath was a shiny black. The glove had been enhanced so it had a metal casing over the back and knuckles and the palm was comfortable while the glove itself covered his whole hand. Rhea leans against the wall and watches as Krieg has made one for each arm.

Krieg hears the sound of another person's breath in the room and turns to see Rhea standing there. He takes off his goggles and stops dead in his tracks while the asari approaches him. Unlike before it is him who is awkward to her advance as he looks away, "I-"

Rhea holds his face and reassures him, "It's okay." She says before kissing him, "I wanted this." And kisses him again more passionately.

Krieg breaks it and nods to her, "I don't know how I felt back there. My mind was strange and I was getting more and more intense."

"I said it was okay." She says before looking towards a glass cabinet and seeing what Krieg had been truly working on this whole time.

It was suit of armour that had direct links to the biotic-sleeves he had built for himself. The armour was mainly black and well-tailored for his build while the plates were all custom-designed. Though the design was based upon Duellist armour made by Armax Arsenal the shoulder pads had been customized to attach to the sleeves making them it a single suit while the boots were bulkier. The helmet was also custom and resembles a face-mask as it had the main section based on Krieg's face with the cheek, brow and beard-ridges prominent while the mouth piece slide into the back for when he didn't need it. The head was covered in metallic feathers and gave a more hair-feel but also added to the menacing bug-like eyes that Krieg would see through.

Krieg puts his hand on Rhea's shoulder and see that she is impressed by the construct, "I've haven't used it yet." He says before walking towards the desk and picking up a pole similar to the one he used during his fighting days. He presses a button and it extends to just under his height as the top sprouts a spearhead made from a hologram this time. The bottom end was blunt "This thing will be useful to me. Besides, firearms have bored me. Most civilisations start with basic tools, so why not go back to a basic weapon."

Rhea sits on a nearby chair and observes as he folds the weapon back and puts it on the desk again, "How long have you been working on these?"

"Since I got here. I've taken ideas and fitted them to my uses. I think I can contribute more this way." He says before kneeling in front of her, "I'll admit I'm scared. For you, me, Yenea, everyone but-" Krieg is interrupt by the flashing light above and to him that means only one thing. "Oh, Shit." He looks to Rhea, "Get your gear, we're under attack."

Brutagus has heard the alert as well and is getting his gear together in his room. The turian places a set of blue light colossus armour on himself along with a visor covering his left eye. He walks to his bed and takes each weapon and places it on his armour giving him a full arsenal before heading out of his room and joining Filestra who was wearing amour inspired by quarian design and holding her sniper rifle. The pair walks into the main foyer and sees that they are not the only one ready as Ecroy has gotten out of bed and leads his troops to them as well.

"We're under attack by the looks of it. You were wright?" Brutagus states.

"We didn't think they would be so bold coming here. I thought it would just be reconnaissance." Ecroy says while counting his men, "You have a plan?"

"Not yet, Krieg should be coming anytime soon." Brutagus says before turning to where Krieg quarters are and sees that the grey alien is ready wearing the armour he developed minus the helmet and sleeves. He was accompanied by Rhea who was only wearing her gear she came in but wanted to fight none-the-less. "The Scythe are here."

"Great." Krieg says before turning to Filestra, "Get you snipers, and focus on the bridge on our side of the parting. Brutagus, All-Feather has taken his squad ahead to check on the settlement. Ecroy, can you, your guys and Brutagus search the island and sabotage anything that's a threat."

Ecroy nods and turns to Likosh, "You heard him. What are you going to do, Krieg?"

"I lead the charge when they've advanced. Filestra, hold the bridge, don't let anyone walk over it. Brutagus, where are the recruits?" Krieg asks.

"They're all waiting in the tunnels ready for the counter-attack. See you on the playing field." Brutagus says leading the band of krogan out of the base.

"Come on guys." Ecroy says also leaving their presence while Filestra moves to rendezvous with her snipers.

Krieg looks around frantically looking, "Where is she? Where is she?"

Rhea holds him still, "Krieg, calm down!" and with that she sees INC approaching, "INC, where is Yenea? Is she safe?"

"Affirmative: She is within the civilian shelters below." The machine informs.

Rhea looks at Krieg, "She's okay. I'll join up with Arakon and give medical support, okay?" and Krieg nods while calming down.

Outside on the neighbouring island, the Scythe forces are both advancing and keeping hold of a major position which is the settlement. The quarian families were now being forced out of their homes and the brutality of the asari themselves is no different from any other. The Commander in charge arrives to the settlement on a quad-legged machine used by officers and those higher in the Duchess' circle. She looks around and sees the quarian being rounded up and looks at the aliens in disgust as with most asari affiliated with the Scythe.

The Captain in charge of the operation to take the settlement approaches and bows in respect, "Commander, what shall we do about these quarians? This isn't the location of Krieg but these must be under his protection."

The Commander turns to her, "Organise them ready for transporting to strongholds immediately."

"Very good, Commander." She says before walking to her troops and giving them orders.

The Commander opens a channel to General Dahria, "General, we have the settlement and I've ordered the troops to push forward."

"Excellent, Commander. Remember your target? The child must be contained and ready to be transported to the Duchess herself."

"I won't fail, General. I plan not to." She explains while closing the channel and smiling.

**2185- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Brutagus leans next to the bridge near Anderson's office and waits for an appointment to come his way. Anderson walks across the bridge while carrying on walking and acting as if this was a regular passing. The human knew how to avoid detection and wasn't going to let Udina in on this meeting as the former Ambassador was a hindrance enough on the veteran.

"You got my message then?" Brutagus asks as the two hide behind a wall and talk.

Anderson nods, "I did. What's the status report on Rhea T'Anya?"

"Well, she's in hiding for now but I don't know for how much longer. You however want to know about your pilot." He says before getting a nod from Anderson, "He'll be fine. Despite Cerberus attempting to end Rhea's life she isn't easy to kill."

"I heard that Shepard was responsible for Purgatory. I can't believe she escaped." He says still confused on the situation.

"I can. Anderson, our group initiated Rhea's capture and when your protégé turned up and caused trouble, we knew it was time. Okeer is another situation."

"I heard. Was that technology Reaper?"

"It was, but it's been used before by other parties who have had dealings with the Collectors. An old adversary used similar technology to build organic life." Brutagus looks around and keeps brief, "We have the mission under control. I was suspicious too but thanks to you, you've clarified everything."

"As a Council member, I suppose we have to work together against the common enemy." Anderson states before getting ready to leave, "See you later." He says leaving Brutagus leaning on the wall and thinking back to himself…


	44. The Battle of Virmire

**Chapter XLIV: The Battle of Virmire**

**2185- Rhea's safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker opens his eyes and realises he's had enough sleep and it has probably been his best night's sleep of the week. He sits up and rubs his eyes before noticing he left his door open last night and hears the sound of humming coming from the main room. Cracking his bones and stretching himself into more able state, he begins walking across the floor and puts on his pants and shirt.

In the main room, Rhea was making herself a drink though nothing as strong as she usually drinks nowadays. When she hears the sound of Joker walking and sitting down, she turns and looks at the human and notices the expression on his face, "What's wrong?"

Joker rubs his eyes again, "Nothing, just thinking about what you've told me so far. About Krinal, Tido. Do regret any of it?"

Rhea thinks to herself and smiles, "I once asked Krieg what it would've been like if I hadn't met him. He didn't like the idea, and I suppose I don't either. He asked me a question even I couldn't answer in return."

Joker leans on the table, "What was it?"

Rhea sits opposite him, "Did he have a soul? I know it sounds stupid but he felt plagued by the question. Could you imagine not having a childhood or a mother, only what you saw in front of you?" she asks though by Joker's face he has as much understanding as she does, "Sorry, it was a hard time for him. We went to Virmire with Scythe on his doorstep."…

**25/11/2164- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Brutagus is waiting in the foyer with Ecroy and his squad waiting for the others to appear. Filestra exits the elevator first donning her armour and preparing her sniper rifle for battle. They look around and see quarians running everywhere preparing for this unforeseen event and realise this will be the first time they will actually go to battle with the enemy. Rhea is the next person to exit though she isn't exactly well fitted for the occasion as she never brought any armour but nonetheless arms herself with her weapon. Krieg is the last exit from his office that linked to his workshop and the grey alien wore only the most basic of armour on his upper legs and torso while carrying his new spear.

"How many are there?" Krieg asks Brutagus.

"It's a small force but still, they're enough to keep us busy for a while. I've order the infantry to the tunnels. They'll be waiting for you." he replies before loading his assault rifle.

"Good." Krieg turns to Filestra, "Take your snipers, protect the bridge at all costs." He then turns to Rhea as the female turian leaves, "I've ordered All-Feather to take back the settlement. When we have we're going covert it into a key Medical position for Arakon to work from. Can you help him?"

"Of course." Rhea answers though is nervous, "What about Ecroy?"

"He can come with me." Brutagus informs, "I'm going to scout ahead and see just how many there are. Krieg, I should warn you that Arlim returned to the settlement last night. If it's taken he may be in danger."

Krieg sighs and knows that his friend is in just as much danger as his family, "Then we must recapture the settlement at all costs. Let's get moving."

Virmire's oceans are vast even in present day and provide isolation for not only Krieg but another presence as a small frigate arrives from outer space and hovers above the ocean. The ship's shape is a smooth and round resembling a flying saucer but with the addition of a long wing pointing downward and skimming the water. However the ship has no weapons visible but was of importance for it held the Emissary who exits the top of the ship and stands on while being followed by Sedath.

"I hear the attack has started?" says the Emissary in full armour and mask, "The information you leaked is the perfect diversion." She reveals knowing this was pre-planned.

Sedath holds a clipboard though now more than ever he is stressed, "Are you sure this was a good idea? This will bring not just Krieg into war, but the wisps as well."

"The quarians are of no concern, they'll think the asari are the enemy not us. Tell me, is the procedure ready?"

"Almost but who do you want to volunteer. The compound is very volatile even when we used it on Sintarrio and Juna. It could kill anyone we use it on." Sedath sighs concerned for her next decision.

"It won't but it's would be worth testing it. Use Yox, the krogan's body structure will probably make it painless." She says throwing her Acolyte away like a pawn. "But for now, I'm here for my daughter."

Krieg is within the tunnels of the base's network along with many Wisps ready for their first battle as an army. Each quarian was fitted with their grey armour and wear it with pride while carrying their assault rifles and having the staffs folded on their backs. Krieg however preferred to hold his in his hand and only seems to carry a single firearm on his thigh. Rhea is inside the tunnels as well with some of the medical staff who are going to give support but she quickly makes her way down the line towards an entrance to the surface to see Krieg off.

She is given space to walk and taps Krieg on the shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Krieg turns a little though trying to keep focused, "No, word just got in confirming that the settlement has been taken. Make your way to it but keep back until All-Feather is done."

Rhea knows that Krieg is stressed leans to whisper, "Good luck." She says before kissing him.

Krieg turns to his nearest commander, "Open the gates." His order is obeyed and the door in front of him opens and he along with hundreds of wisps runs up the ramps.

The Scythe invasion force has met an unexpected counter attack as wisps under Krieg's command respond with gunfire. Unlike the flotilla quarians, these knew more about war and how to fight an enemy as the some cover others who climb the terrain to get better vantage points. All-Feather commands his unit through the battle brings them near the settlement where many of the families are. The commander of the unit gives instruction in his language and they obey while watching the Scythe asari round up the children and their guardians, be it a mother or father.

The Commander of the Scythe forces takes her helmet off and looks at the suited aliens with disgust as like many in the inner circle hate none-asari. "Bring me that one over there, he looks important." She says pointing to Arlim who unlike his brother was merely a civilian here. Two troops escort the Wisp over to the Commander and place him on his knees, "Who are you, filthy man?"

Arlim seems unfazed and remains calm, "That's none of your concern, free these people or face a fate worse than death."

One of the troops uses the butt of her rifle to hit the glass of his mask, "You speak to Commander Gizenta, show respect!"

Arlim lies on the ground and slowly picks himself back to his knees, "From the way…you're treating me, you are not worthy of my respect."

Just as the trooper is about to repeat her action the Commander halts her, "That'll be enough." She says while taking a knife and bring him up to his feet, "I've heard of you Wisps. You really are amazing creatures, so stubborn in your beliefs yet you believe everyone equal. I'll tell you, your short lives mean nothing in the universe but us, we will live forever."

"Even stars die." Arlim responds, "But it's not me you're here for, is it?"

"Good guess. Where is the child?" she asks while beginning to push the blade into his chin.

Arlim begins chuckling, "Even if I did tell you, you wouldn't claim her. Like all animals, the parent protects her."

"And that is why we plan to kill him." Gizenta states twisting the knife, "Like every dirty little quarian that lives in this hovel."

Arlim watches as Gizenta walks back and nods to her troops. The Scythe hold their weapons up ready to fire upon the wisps with no mercy but Arlim has better ideas than mass slaughter. The Wisp has one trick in his attire as he reaches for the buckles of his built while looking towards his wife and children. His spouse knows what he's doing and holds her children tight and others do the same. This confuses the Scythe troopers and All-Feather has seen from the shadows as he breaks cover and runs into the settlement unprepared with no cover.

The quarian takes out two troopers before running towards the group but Arlim runs as fast as he can towards Gizenta. The asari sees his buckle flashing and knows what it is as he dives towards her. The asari uses her biotics to push Arlim into the air above the settlement. His younger brother finds himself in the centre of surrounding Scythe but looking up towards where his brother is. The quarian's heart is beating slowly and at peace before the flashing stops.

"Kill him!" Gizenta shouts and the asari focus their fire on Arlim while the civilian run for cover.

As he lands the bullets tare him apart but for those around him though what was thought to be a bomb attached to him was nothing more than a trick. This allows the Wisps to advance and secure the area. Gizenta gets back on her transport and flees knowing it was too close to call. All-Feather doesn't join the battle and runs to his brother's body where he is giving one moment to spare. Arlim talks in his own language to his brother and the conversation is brief and unknown to anyone else before the elder dies in the younger's arms.

Brutagus, Ecroy and Likosh are further behind enemy lines as the three of them have reached what seems to be a small camp the Scythe set up for themselves. The cliffs they currently situate themselves on give them a perfect vantage point against the asari who seem to be constructing an artillery weapon they've brought with them. They area which the Scythe had commandeered was close to both a water supply and the forests where the battle is taking place. The turian takes out his sniper rifle while looking through the leans to get a better look at the weapon.

Ecroy leans over, "What is that thing?"

Brutagus gets a better look at the shape. The legs upon the weapon are its primary mode of transportataion while the shape is confusing to the eye being a hexagonal sphere. "I don't think it typical cannon, there are no barrels. Ecroy, sent you man around them and give me time to get a better look at it."

Ecroy turns to Likosh, "You heard him." And the younger krogan runs back to his troop, "How did they know we were here?" Ecroy knew from the beginning of the mission that the Scythe were in the cluster but nothing more.

Brutagus thinks to himself, "I'm not sure. Wait a second." He says before seeing a few more troops beginning to surround the weapon along with a Captain, "Looks like new orders. Something must be going on somewhere else. Where's Filestra?"

"Her snipers a picking off troops near the bridge." Ecroy says before taking out a grenade. "Use this."

Brutagus takes the grenade and kneels up before throwing it. He looks for a position where it can hit what the Scythe were constructing and throws it. The end result hits the bottom of a tree and knocks it down but not before taking out seven asari. The troops look up to Brutagus' position and fire towards him while Likosh's squad see the signal and charge behind them. The krogan are formidable and easy take the asari apart with their weapons despite being outnumbered three to one.

Likosh signals them to come down while he observes the weapon they were constructing. He kneels down and takes a look but he can only see wiring and no controls. He lowers himself more to see what was inside the weapon and notice that there wasn't ammunition but explosives as he turns to his troops, "Secure the area!"

Ecroy runs to Likosh and looks at the object, "What is this thing?"

"It's a bomb, Commander. We need find the groups in charge of them and take them out."

"Agreed. Split the guys up, I'll lead one you lead the other." He orders before turning to Brutagus, "The Scythe is scrambling communications. I would go and tell Filestra to look out for these, if one this size gets near the settlement or the base, the island's done for." Brutagus nods and runs like a turian can.

Gizenta is arriving at her headquarters near the eastern shore and while getting off her quad-rider presses a button on her wrist. The signal from this enters the ocean and breaking the ocean apart appears a ship the size of a frigate. This ship is followed by three others and was used to arrive on this world. The middle frigate moves forward and lowers the ramp for her as she climbs aboard and walks to the elevator. When she reaches the bridge she sits in her chair ready to give commands.

"Lieutenant, tell the over ships to bombard the settlement and warn our Captains." She says before pressing a button and opening a channel to General Dahria. "General, the attack has been successful though we didn't anticipate resistance."

"How many hostile have you encountered?" the General wonders.

"Estimates say a few thousand but the diversion is working. The ground troops are fighting the quarians while the frigates are ready to retrieve the troops and detonate the bombs. We'll surprise them with the remaining force and take the child." She informs.

"Very good. Carry on." she says before disappearing.

The main body of the wisps are fighting in the forest and Krieg is among them. The grey alien is leading his group towards the Scythe's infantry who are firing towards him as he was the prime target. He uses his biotics with ease and creates a barrier for himself and some around him so they can get closer and show how they fight compared to other armies. The spear that Krieg carries is turned on and the holographic spearhead appears but he isn't the only one with this function. The staffs that each Wisp carries has their own holographic blades of choice from sickle-like blades, axes, maces, each looking primitive but for Krieg it's a more favourable position.

The wisps despite being exposed to gunfire can close in on the enemy and fight with their melee weapons, catching the enemy troop guard as a wisp uses his mace to pierce the armour of a trooper. The effectiveness of these weapons makes the Scythe resort to biotic tactics but the sheer numbers of the wisps make it hard to focus with one trooper pushing a wisp away but falling victim to decapitation.

Krieg is fighting a trooper and uses his biotics to push her back into a group. Leaping towards them as they recover he hits the first with the blunt end of his weapon while impaling the second. After a trooper gets up and fires from her rifle, she catches him in the stomach. However his recent mutations have hardened his skin but still cause him to groan as another troop throws him back towards a tree. A Captain manages to grab his spear and attempts to throw it in his direction but he holds the tree and lifts himself upside down before it hits. Grabbing his spear then springing of the trees bark, he runs towards the Captain with shield of biotics in front of him before tripping her up with the bladed-end and then stabbing her in the back.

He turns around and sees the rest of the wisps pushing forward but like many his attention turns to the Scythe frigate heading past their position and begins running to the closest commander, "Order them to carry on forward, I what every Scythe asari's head on a stick." He says before running back towards his home.

Filestra and her troops are picking off the Scythe attempting to destroy the bridge, the only form of transportation over the expanse of water underneath, also an area with Sharpe rocks to kill anyone who attempt to jump. Brutagus is not far from the bridge though is having trouble getting across due to two factors. The first is that the Scythe are pinning the area down and from what he can see through the trees, they have another bomb only this one is ready.

The other problem the turian faced was the fact that All-Feather and his squad were escorting the civilians, including a stretcher with his dead brother on towards the bridge and are only lightly protected. He takes priority and approaches the feathered-quarian and signals him to stay put while he takes his rifle out and creates a diversion.

The female turian on the other side of the bridge is picking off asari at rapid rate and so are her soldiers but before they can fishes them off another squad of Scythe troopers begin an advance. She looks through her scope and sees Bruatgus crouching behind a tree and waiting for the precise moment. She holds her hand to hold fire while letting the Scythe advance towards the other side of the bridge and closer to the watchtower.

The male turian however keeps watch as he sees the quadruped-bomb walk between the troop and looks to Filestra's position. He mimes the shape of the bomb and tells her to shoot it. When she does the next few seconds become slow as the bomb explodes and creates a small mushroom cloud. The blast disintegrates the Scythe armour before the asari themselves but the bridge is another problem as his plan destroys the only means of transportation for the civilians. All-Feather rendezvouses with Brutagus and the turian directs him to take the civilians south towards the shoreline where the battle has no focus.

Not before long Brutagus sees Krieg coming out of the trees who was able to reach them quickly, "Krieg, the Scythe has powerful bombs. All-Feather's taking the civilians to the shoreline."

Krieg shakes his head, "No good, Scythe Frigates are on their way here. I need to get back."

"You can't, I just ordered Filestra to blow the bridge." Brutagus states.

Krieg looks in confusion "You what? Was that the explosion?"

"It was the only we could save the base. All-Feather knows the beach vault. He'll take them there." Bruatgus informs.

Krieg looks to All-Feather who nods in agreement. "Okay, I'll go with them so I can find a way up the cliff. Arakon and Rhea won't be able to help the wounded for long if these bombs are as bad as you say they are. Find him and increase the guard surrounding his camp." He orders before turning All-Feather and pointing the direction they need to go.

Rhea and Arakon are within the medical centre with in the settlement that has been retaken and there have already been casualties and injuries. Every bed was taken and those with minor injuries take to sitting on chairs provided. Rhea is patching up a leg of wound of a female quarian has taken while Arakon is stabilises a males condition. The other medical staff are doing their best though this conflict is their first real field experience and the group seem to be taking commands from Rhea while she approaches Arakon.

"We're running out of supplies." She informs.

Arakon keeps concentration on the male quarian, "Then use your initiative." He says before seeing Likosh enter the tent with one of the krogan under his command. The salarian looks to Rhea, "Continue stabilising the bleeding." He orders before approaching Likosh, "What's wrong?"

"His leg receives some damage." Likosh inform about his soldier who has five bullet holes pierced through his left leg.

"Well you're a krogan, consider yourself lucky. Put him on a chair and I'll get to him." He says before the shaking of the ground occurs, "There's another one. Doctor T'Anya, see to these krogan."

Rhea give the leg back to Arakon before approaches Likosh, "What's happened?"

"Sniper fire." Likosh informs as Rhea examines the leg, "Is it bad?"

Rhea looks up, "Only blood loss but we'll keep him here."

Likosh looks at the soldier, "Keep you rifle, protect the door." He orders as they help him out, "He's better used out there before you ask." And heads for the exit but not before seeing Brutagus enter, "We heard the one near the bridge. We got one as well."

"Goo,d keep a look out. Where's Ecroy?" he asks while the ground shakes again, "Don't worry about that." He approaches Rhea, "We need to retreat some of wounded to the shoreline vaults where they'll be safe."

"We can't. It's a battlefield, it's too dangerous." Rhea protests.

"I've ordered some troops to accompany you and I have a diversion ready. Trust me." Brutagus says before leaving and not willing to talk anymore.

Rhea approaches Arakon, "Brutagus has ordered we remove ourselves. I don't like it."

Arakon looks to Rhea, "If that's his orders. Everyone, help escort the wounded to shoreline, higher orders!"

Gizenta's frigates are approaching the bridge and are within firing range of the watchtower. Gizenta nods to her pilot and within seconds a missile obliterates the structure. As the ships lower themselves the ramp opens and Scythe commandos lower themselves with biotics in order to infiltrate the lower levels. The Commander makes her way through the ship in order to conduct this business personally. When landing on her feet she takes cover and holds her pistol waiting for the commandos to make their move against the defence. The quarians are able fighters but no match for elite units as they quickly dispose of them and allowing entry into the buildings below.

She walks down the steps and shoots two wisps before heading further in. The commandos are already attacking the quarians that guard the inner structures and the numbers seem to give the quarians the edge despite the commando's abilities. Gizenta however isn't a regular commando as she channels her biotic energy and releases a blast throughout the hallway, departing both asari and quarian alike as she walks through them. When she reaches the foyer she shoots her pistol three times taking out three quarians and knows that where there are more guards, Yenea will be there.

Below her on the shoreline of the island, Krieg, All-Feather and the civilians are nearing the secret shelter Krieg built encase of the worst. Being built at the bottom of the cliff face had both an advantage and disadvantage. Being in the middle of the day during a battle the place was very well hidden however the tide hides the structure in the night meaning whoever is in there is trapped. Krieg knows this and speaks to All-Feather concerned but it seems the death of his brother has made him more aggressive and Krieg puts his hands up in defeat.

While they are continuing helping the civilians, Krieg is worrying about his daughter due to her been inside his home in which he can see only a few windows he could enter in. The frigates however were a problem as one begins to hover over the shoreline with the civilians in range. All-Feather turns and orders his troops to fire while he shouts to Krieg though his words going straight through him. All-Feather runs to Krieg and pats him on the back to the grey alien's annoyance but when he turns and see the ship he realises the more obvious threat.

The grey alien says a few words to All-Feather before he begins pacing towards the frigate while the ship is beginning to heat up its turrets ready to fire upon the still exposed wisps. He takes out his pistol while putting spear on his back and shoots the pistol at the frigate, releasing a wire. He pulls the trigger again and the rope retracts pulling him onto the reaper-shaped vessel with ease. The design of the ship help as he land between a reaper 'leg' and where the turrets are situated. All-Feather starts creating a diversion for Krieg while he readies himself.

The quarian aims his sniper rifle and fire his explosive round in order to catch their attention. His troops follow suit and the amount of rounds fired on the frigate is beginning to show as the pilot inside is becoming frustrated and begins moving towards their position. This gives Krieg the opportunity to jump for a window of his base as the height of the frigate gave him some time to plan his jump. When he has seen and target he retracts the wire and leaps for the cliff before shooting the wire again and towards a waterfall where his window hides behind. The magnet-end hits just above and Krieg retracts while using the rocks to climb quicker. He makes easy work and he directs himself towards the waterfall where his workshop is located.

All-Feather meanwhile has the frigate to deal with and puts his rifle on his back and takes his pistol. Within a few seconds his troops shoots towards the frigate and each pistol lets loose a wire to retract. They proceed to use the function almost immediately and stay underneath the ship while the personal of asari inside look confused at the now empty beach. The civilians were safe and their plan worked but the quarians had other plans as they begin trying to find a way into the vessel.

Krieg climbs onto the ledge of the window and shifts across between the glass and the waterfall. When he reaches the other side he sees a keypad and presses it before falling into the workshop to sees that no one has reached there yet. As he runs to the trapdoor and opens it he jumps down quickly and hears a scream of fear. When he approaches his new suit he looks behind it and sees Yenea hiding despite remembering ordering her to go to the base's staff shelters within the base.

Krieg crouches and hold her by the shoulder, "Yenea, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to follow the others?" but he doesn't get an answer. His attention turns away from her when the sound of the elevator goes and he quickly turns to her, "Stay here."

The grey alien walks up to the trap door's and jumps through the hole to land on edge and see who is inside his property. Gizenta was successful in penetrating the defences and has been followed by twenty Scythe commandos. The Commander looks at the alien and is amazed by his appearance and what he would have been.

"Hand over the child, Krieg." She says not even giving him a choice.

Krieg doesn't answer and leaps towards her but Gizenta use her biotics to move him aside as he hits the wall and the other commandos hold him down with a barrier. Gizenta however lowers herself in down the trap door and sees the child in front of her. She smiles as her biotic grasp the youngling and together they rise out back into Krieg's sight. The child is released and lands on all fours scared of her capture as she looks at Krieg in a taunting a triumphant tone.

"She's beautiful, Krieg. But we have plans for her." She informs though is unprepared for the grey alien.

He begins displaying his rage again and grinding his teeth while his black eyes outline begins glowing blue. The commandos don't know what's happening as the barrier holding him down begins feeling resistance. His muscles tense and his hair creeps up and with one move breaks the barrier like breaking from shackles. He sees his spear and pulls it to him and activates the spearhead while making a snarling sound. The commandos raise their weapons as he starts walking towards them but as the bullets hit him he rage only consumes him more.

Krieg throws his spear into a commando while jumping left and kicking another in the face. While still in the air he springs off the falling asari and is open to several shots in the chest while falling back on his front. The asari keep composure but the fact that he stands up only fills them with fear as a single roar comes from the grey alien.

The asari can only blink once before he uses a biotic charge and takes them out one by one. The first he snaps the neck, then next is grabbed by the arm and feels his foot treading into her kneecap. His third move he picks up his spear and charges with only half the need energy, meaning he wasn't intangible but it has increased his speed considerably and with one wave of spear, three commandos fall like dominos. Yenea looks in horror as her father massacres the asari like a beast though Gizenta is using this opportunity to grab her and leave the base.

The Scythe forces on the neighbouring island are falling back and the Wisp Army is showing momentum as they push forward. Rhea along with an armed escort continues is searching for as many causalities as possible while making their way to the shore though the smoke and flying bullets are hindering their progress. The asari uses her biotics to push a group away from them while the quarians shoot and surround her. She sees Brutagus handling himself while only a few yards away is Ecroy.

Ecroy is with his troops and are taking out yet another bomb and the explosion causes them to take cover behind whatever they can. The krogan feels his arm and can't help but feel intense pain as the muscles contract and Likosh notices.

"Are you okay?" he asks concerned for his commander, "Did you get hit?"

"No, my arm!" Ecroy says as he falls to ground and continues to exhibit discomfort.

Rhea comes running with a group of medics due to the explosion being so close. "What's wrong?"

Likosh rolls his superior on his back, "I don't know. He's just started acting like this."

Rhea turns to the other krogan, "Help me escort him to the shore." She orders while Brutagus finishes fighting and approaches her, "Looks like we've won."

"I don't know about that. Some frigates were nearing the base but one look like it fled. There are still three out there and one may contain the leader of this assault." The turian theorises though he was only half-correct. "Without the bridge we can only rely on the shoreline to transport them."

"Then we make for the shoreline and hold the position until victory is declared." Rhea says leading Ecroy's krogan to the north.

Within Krieg's workshop, the last living commando is crawling away from the grey alien who has torn everyone apart. Krieg finishes her with his spear and looks around the chaos to find both Gizenta and his daughter gone. This only fills his rage as he walks over to his proto-type sleeve and puts it on his right arm. He then walks to elevator and presses the keypad to go to the top floor. He waits holding his spear in his left hand and wearing his sleeve on his right, the closest he could be to armed right now as both were weapons of great power in certain hands.

Gizenta is restraining the child as she tries to walk up the ramp and in the end results to hitting the girl in the stomach to settle her. As she holds her in her arms while the frigate lowers itself on top of the flat surface of the base while its fellow ship hovers out towards the sea waiting to leave. The asari turns when Krieg appears from the elevator ready for battle.

"I take it you've killed them all. What a scar you've left in your daughter's mind. She'll never recover you know. She'll remember you as a monster that needs to be put down." She says smiling.

"Let her go or I destroy your only way of escaping." He threatens.

Gizenta smiles again thinking he's bluffing, "You stand against two fully-armed frigates, Krieg. We could bomb you out of existence."

Her words are flawed when Krieg faces his right palm towards the hovering frigate and focuses his biotic energy. When he releases it, the beam travels at rapid pace and goes through the hull and to the engine causing it to explode. Gizenta looks in shock while Krieg falls to the ground as the weapon had consumed so much of his energy. Yenea despite being in pain uses what time she has to fall out of the asari's hands and runs where she thinks she'll be safe, by her father's side.

Gizenta use her biotics to pulls her back though Krieg pulls out his pistol and fires it with what little energy he has left within him. The shot grazes her shoulder padding and she holds it while running up the ramp. Before Krieg can stand up he sees the frigate beginning to take off and covers his daughter from the incoming wind. When the open space clears Krieg falls on his back and pants while Yenea looks to the rest of the island and sees the smoke the battle has caused.

From her ship, Krinal sees the explosion through her mask and can't help but feel disappointment for her enemy as they have only proved to her that they will eventually be defeated. Sedath sees this also though his instincts tell him that something is amiss with this whole operation they set up. The fact that he was ordered to leak the information felt like there was an ulterior motive.

Krinal turns to her Acolyte and holds his shoulder, "I guess they've failed, as predicted. Krieg was too much for them and this attack will only strengthen us."

Sedath looks to her in confusion, "How? You haven't gained anything so it's nothing more than a mere skirmish."

"But this attack has brought not just Krieg into war, but because to the wisps, the Scythe is cult and therefore a religion. The Clergy of the Wisp may declare Holy War on them. The Exiled Krogan will join as well and then the Scythe will have not just me but two more enemies to deal with, taking the workload of us. Trust in me Sedath." She says before entering the ship again and the salarian following, ready to leave.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea leans on the chair thinking about the battle and the scars left from it, especially for Yenea who saw the worst of her father. She takes a sip of her drink while Joker makes his coffee.

"She never did forget that, poor child." Rhea says showing remorse.

Joker sits down and leans in, "I know I wouldn't like to see my dad kill a bunch of people, even if he was protecting me. So you won?"

"Yeah. The Wisps however were mourning the loss of Arlim. He brought them together and built the community for three years and gave his life for it. The news hit Krieg and he was just as distraught. The casualties were less than expected but many died that day."

"Was the family okay after it? What about All-Feather?" Joker wonders.

"Wisps take death very well, surprisingly. They believe that when we die we are reborn as stars with those favoured to support life and those unflavoured to be left with nothing but a long existence." Rhea reveals though doesn't believe it. "Are you religious, Joker?"

"Not really. You know space does? It makes you rethink your faith no matter who you are." He says before taking another sip of his drink.

"Virmire was a turning point for the war. From then on it was us decided how it would end."…

**26/11/2164- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Krieg lay in the infirmary with the quarians tending to the bullet wound he received. The grey alien only had minor damage as his skin was thicker and only grazed but he still groans when they patch him up. He wasn't the only one in there as many quarians were injured during the battle and were still recovering as well with illnesses contracted by the suit-exposure. Rhea is stitching an exposed leg and finishes quickly so the quariaan can be patched up. She sees that Arakon, the chief medical doctor was inside the preparation room observing both x-rays and tissue sample he has taken from Krieg.

She enters the room and pats him on the shoulder, "How did surgery go?"

"Four surgeries in a few hours is enough, even for a salarian." He says while focusing the microscope, "I'm just looking at Krieg's cells to see what exactly is going on?"

Rhea looks at Krieg cells with intrigue, "Didn't you get anything from Brutagus? He had a load of data from K-Thousand."

"Yes but it was incomplete." He says observing them as well, "The mutations that Krieg thought was affecting him may be more important than he realises."

"How do you mean?" Rhea asks.

"After taking samples of quarian tissue since I've been here, it is a well-known fact that their immune system is weak. Krieg's is abnormally high but these mutated cells seem to be amplifying this, but I'm sure how." Arakon holds his chin, "I need outside help."

Rhea looks at him with concern, "You can't do that. If it fell into the wrong hands-"

"It won't, not with my connections. I have a friend on the Citadel who is an expert in genetics and could probably decipher this mystery, but it leaves me concerned."

Rhea leans on the wall and crosses her arms. "Why?"

Arakon continues observing the cells, "Well Krieg's mutation obviously is helping him survive otherwise he would have died by now, his DNA when replicated seems to break easily. If Yenea doesn't have any mutation in her, she might be living on borrowed time." he states and with deep concern for both Krieg and his daughter's wellbeing.

Rhea sighs, "Who is colleague of yours?"

"His name is Solus, Tinun Solus." He says before taking the disk out of the machine and giving it to Rhea, "When you can, go to the Citadel and hand him this information."

Rhea's trail of though is interrupted by the commotion in the other room as Krieg is awake and pushing everyone out of the way. The asari runs to him and turns him around, "Krieg, it's okay. It's over."

"Where is she?" Krieg says looking around.

"She's safe. She's been staying with All-Feather." She hugs him for comfort, "I take it you've heard?"

Krieg looks down in shame, "Arlim, he didn't deserve this. This is my war now. I must fight."

"But not now." Rhea says escorting him back to his bed, "The news has been given to all Wisp ships. They're coming here."

Krieg doesn't sit when he hears this, "But-"

"It's not like you can hide anymore, Krieg. Apparently even the Chief Cleric is coming. Arlim is a martyr to them now." She reveals, "They want to hold a funeral here."

Krieg notices Rhea taking his hand, "Let them come. You may as well tell the High Lords to come as well. What happened to Ecroy?"

"Arakon's about to enter the theatre now." Rhea answers.

The salarian was with a team of quarians ready to begin the procedure. The krogan himself was lying on a metal slab and under anaesthetic while his arm was lying on and extended piece of the slab. Rhea enters the room and puts on a mask to cover her mouth and nose while Arakon is about to brief the team. She notices that the tools that are going to be used and not for regular surgery as the main item was a circular saw with heated blades. This leaves her curious of the salarian's intention.

Arakon turns to her, "I know what you're thinking but before you went to Krieg, I couldn't inform you about Ecroy's arm." He says before turning to the quarians, "Okay, this procedure is not like any other you'll likely come across but it seems that our friend here as an abnormality that must be dealt with before it can affect him anymore. Please, take you positions."

The quarians surround the krogan body and hold it down while the salarian takes the tool he will use and begins to power it up. The blade rotates slowly before the power reaches its full potential. Rhea helps steady the arm while Arakon shows signs of nerves despite his always calm manner. When he lowers the blade to the flesh an unexpected sight occurs as the flesh tares easily enough as expected but after the sound of chinks occur and the sight of sparks exit. The procedure is quick but nonetheless needs cleaning up as Rhea looks at the now amputated are to find nothing for cybernetics surround the dead muscle tissue while his shoulder still exhibited signs of synthetic replacements.

Arakon puts the tool down and turns to the asari, "I examined his hand. He displayed a wound that may have the source of this transformation. I won't be able to remove the rest of it but for now he is stable."

Rhea watches as the quarians begin to patch his shoulder and prevent any blood loss that may occur, "What will we do about his arm?"

"Maybe Krieg or INC could help?" Arakon says getting back to his work.

The next evening is quiet though the skyline is full of machines due to Wisp's coming from all over the galaxy. Though there weren't many places to land the quarians were adamant in attending Arlim's funeral and were walking through the forests. The area they had picked was an open plain and the wisps were making a grand affair as a podium had been set up with a slab for its main host. Other slabs had been put across the field for those who had died but surrounding Arlim's who was seen by many as the one most worthy of remembrance.

The Clergy of the Wisps, both male and female those who were committed to their religion were organising the event. Each cleric wore long robes from tattered to well-kept and held wooden staffs passed from generation to generation as these insignificant looking objects came from Rannoch's trees. All-Feather sits at the steps of his brother's altar and thinks to himself while his family approaches consisting of his wife, adopted daughter and his son. The wisps are not the only quarians to pay their respects as Enti's had brought the Malal to Virmire with himself, Chek, Difan, Zeki and Mehoa all watching as they see a piece of history in the making.

They see a Cleric approaching them. This female member was dressed very finely as her robes were a bright white with silver lining and patterns of ancient symbols over her body. Her mask in particular was strange as it was completely covered with no eyes and the feathers surrounding it, giving the likeness to a star. She bows to them while holding a staff made from the same wood as the others.

"Enti'Malal, I am Drais'Utet. I am the Chief Cleric of the Wisp people and a friend." she says introducing herself, "I hope we haven't interrupted anything important, for it was at the … family's request you be here."

Enti speaks on behalf of the clan, "No, no. We're just surprised that's all. You're putting quite a show." He says before looking to the family themselves.

"Arlim gave his life for others, the very principle of star itself when it gives light and warmth for something to rise within its power. There is no doubt that one day Arlim's star will find a new life form to watch and evolve." She says though her words are confusing to them, "We are just glad to see some who are not as closed-minded here."

Difan turns to Zeki, "I'm going to have a talk with All-Feather. I'll see you later."

"Okay." Zeki says though not very politely as her husband walks to the altar to talk with All-Feather greeted him warmly.

While Enti and Drais continue talking about current events, the mother and daughter join Rhea who is currently sitting on one of the rocks while she watch Yenea and Lilk playing with each other. Filestra's son had a similar skin tone as his mother, light but unlike her had a pronounced orange patch in the centre of his face with no markings. The asari is worried for the grey child as Arakon's news may upset Krieg and doesn't know whether to tell him or withhold it and not hurt his feeling.

Zeki climbs the rock a sits with Rhea while Mehoa is looking over to the other children, "Are you okay?"

Rhea's attention is refocused, "Yeah, I am." She says while nervous about telling her friend some news, "I… and Krieg… you know?"

Zeki puts an arm on her shoulder, "And you're okay with that. I know you told me you resisted but-"

"It was fine." She says reaching her hand over and touching hers, "It wasn't like I hadn't thought about it but when I saw Krieg after all these years, I knew then there was something there. Maybe it's because he's a father or I feel responsible for him…strange fetish, maybe?"

"Are you sure that you feelings developed over these years? From when I met you two, I saw something. Tyon once said when we returned to the Migrant Fleet that Krieg knew what it was like to not express love for someone because of fear." She recalls though says it very emotionally.

Rhea looks down and smiles, "I think I had that problem."

"He loves you, Rhea." Zeki confirms with confidence though looks to her own daughter to see her playing with the other children, "Looks like Mehoa has friends now."

Rhea looks at the children playing, "Do you take your childhood for granted?"

"I suppose I do. Are you still thinking about the fact that Krieg didn't have one?" Zeki asks.

"Yes. I just look at them and can't help but think about my mother. I never knew my other parent you know? As is the case with many asari." Rhea says and revealing some of her past in the process.

"Do you know who he or she is?" the quarian asks.

"No… mother never wanted to say." She reveals before standing, "We better get back and ready for this thing." She says escorting her friend and the children following them.

A few hours later and the night skies are clear for the funeral is in session. Funeral pyres are a light everywhere as the wisps cremated their dead and the families of each fallen members of their race surround each one. Arlim's is in the centre and Drais is reciting a prose in their language to progress the ceremony. Many none-wisps were in attendance as the Malal family sit on a distant rock and watch the display with Rhea next to them and Yenea cuddling up to her while Filestra keeps her son close as well.

They all watch as in the centre pyre a certain event happened though they can only see from a distance as All-Feather walks up the altar and removes his helmet and cloak before stripping in front of all the wisps. This wasn't unusual for them as he stands tall and opens his arms for his brother, embracing the fire in front of him and those around him bow in respect. This was part of ceremony though its significance was unknown.

Ecroy was up and moving though the krogan still needed assistance but luckily for him, Likosh and his squad were helping him. Along with these tattooed krogan are Tovoh and the other High Lords, each one dressed in fine attire and showed an awe of wisdom about them as they walk through the centre and pay their respects despite not knowing Arlim personally or very well. Brutagus leans against a tree in the distance and his company consists of Agon and Krieg.

Agon looks out to the distance, "You know, the High Lords are now considering joining the war. They want the Scythe crushed."

"So do I." Krieg says crossing his arms, "I'll never forgive them for what they are."

"What about the prisoners we captured? Will you execute them?" Brutagus asks.

Krieg sighs, "I'm not sure. They may be indoctrinated."

Agon nods, "I agree. We don't know what they've been exposed to."

"Despite them following some sort of reaper programme, they're still people. They may have information or they may even be acting out of fear. I suggest interrogation at the most." Brutagus states using his knowledge on how to deal with these sorts of situations, "Besides, they may know how they found out about this place. I can't be convinced that every soldier in that army is hand-reared for serving, there must be more to this enemy." He says before noticing Krieg is missing and has walked away though where is unknown to them.

Krieg has returned home and sits on his bed with his face buried in his hands. He is overcome with guilt as the loss of friend makes him feel strange and experiences real grief for the first time in a long time. His stuff was all over the floor as he hadn't cleaned the room since the battle though the asari had been removed but their bloodstains still marked the once clean surface. He can't take the stuffing anymore and starts throwing whatever still was in wright place on the floor until his biotics get the better of him as he punches the glass of the window and it shatters. He kneels in front of the water and sees through it the stars at night and thinks that Arlim may be up there now being reborn.

Rhea opens the elevator and sees the mess though with light only coming from the outside. She runs over to Krieg and crouches beside him and hugs the tearful alien though there is no other emotion, "I'm here, Krieg."

Krieg's eyes stop shedding tears, "I'm going to kill them all, Rhea. Krinal, the Duchess, even Scythe itself. You know, the Scythe believe me now to be like an Ardat-Yakshi, maybe I should act more like one."

As he stands Rhea continues to kneel, "Krieg, don't give into that."

"And why not?"Krieg shouts in anger, "Everything this war is, is because I exist. I should've known that I couldn't protect these people for long. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to be a father if wasn't meant to be." He says plaguing himself with self-doubt.

Rhea gets up and holds him, "Krieg, I…I love you, and so does Yenea and everyone else. Do you want to throw all this away, everything you have built for yourself? I was there when you were nothing but a confused person trying to make sense of the world but I knew that…you loved me, there was nothing you were surer of even if I denied it."

Krieg hold her waist though can't look to her, "Knowing that…it means…" his speech is shortened by Rhea kissing him passionately as the asari closer her eyes and feels ecstasy once again.


	45. The War Demon

**Chapter XLV: The War Demon**

**27/11/2164- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Krieg sits on his bed thinking to himself, plagued by thoughts within his mind. He looks out the open window to see the light piercing though the water though his eyes turn away from the glimmering liquid. He reaches over to the side table and takes a pair of shades he uses and puts them before standing up and stretching. Rhea was also with him though the asari is sleeping off the stress he caused the night before though the marks still remained smeared across the floor.

Pressing the keypad and heading into the elevator with only his overalls on he waits for the doors to close and open so that he can enter the office he uses less and less. Sitting on the chair he switches on his console to see what is on the schedule for today. He looks at the information and knows that both the Clergy of the Wisps as well as the High Lords wish to discuss the battle with him though he knows it will come to one outcome.

INC enters the room via the main door and sees its creator with a look of depression on his face while approaching, "Greeting: How was your sleep?"

Krieg looks to the drone and smiles though only weakly, "It was refreshing. Thanks. Where's Yenea?"

"Answer: I placed her in the care of the Ashet Family for now while you recuperate." It says before analysing the alien, "Inquiry: Are you well?"

Krieg looks up again and notices the question is strange even for INC, "I'm…fine. Are you?"

"Negative."

"No?" Krieg leans back on his chair and knows INC doesn't normally ask or answer these types of questions, "What's wrong?"

INC hovers closer and more personal, "Answer: I…care for your wellbeing. It doesn't take a scan to realise you are not well."

"Thank you. Not many say to me." Krieg smiles again before leaning forward, "You know, INC… Just because you were created by me, you didn't have to serve me like you have."

"Negative: You are my creator. I owe you servitude whether it is in your travels or protecting the ones you love. I'm beginning to experience this emotion and the power it possesses."

"I guess we're family then." Krieg says before looking over to the door, "Can you wake up Rhea? I like her in this 'meeting' with the others."

Ecroy is still in the operating theatre and Arakon has been working all night in order to complete the procedure intended for the unfortunate krogan. The prosthetic arm on the nearby table wasn't like the types the geth would use but it was functional. Quarian tech experts have been brought in from engineering to build the arm and they were only moments from completion. Chek was among them as he takes some diagnostics of the arm and observes how the wiring will affect the body s well as the nerves they attach to it.

Arakon walks to Chek, "We're ready, are you?"

"Just about. I'll be honest, I've nether been a surgeon before." Chek admits and nods to his crew to move the arm into position.

"The surgery's over. If we get this on him and he'll be ready to fight in a few weeks." the salarian states while looking at the unconscious Agon, "Amazing, krogan physiology is built for survival. Yet I feel their limits haven't been tested." He admits before watching the crew attach the arm to his now covered area and using computers attaches the wires and the magnets together. The procedure is only a minute but it's success is hard to tell.

Chek stand beside him with his arms crossed, "Does it work?"

"The console says it does, but until he awakes we won't know." Arakon answers.

Inside the briefing room they were two factions already waiting for the host though each showed the other mutual respect for their common ally. The Wisp leader were made up of both the Clergy and the Captains though the former had taken the chairs and the same approach was taken by the High Lords with their battlemasters standing ready for negotiation. Others were also invited as All-Feather stood near the head though his loyalty are now fixed with Krieg rather than the quarians while Filestra and Brutagus wait for their employer to enter the room.

Krieg and Rhea enter while the latter wears the standard medical uniform given to her while the former is wearing a more appropriate set of attire. He wore a suit of custom design one again and looked his best while walk through with his now partner and sitting at the head of table. INC also enters the room though hovers towards his creator's side. Nearest to him were the key representatives of their peoples, Tovoh and Drais.

"Thank you for holding this summit, Grey-Groom." Drais says to him with the upmost respect.

"The same on behalf of the High Lords." Tovoh adds.

"Thank you. You've called this meeting to decide the next move for both of your peoples. Both of you have common traits that make it hard for the current society to accept." Krieg states though sound disinterested.

Tovoh continues, "That we do. The wisps have been exposed to the Scythe and their power. They fought gallantly against them but if they are going to declare war on them, I fear that they will exterminated."

"Do underestimate us, krogan. We will fight these blasphemers!" says a Wisp Captain though is surprised by Drais' signal to calm down.

Drais turns to the captain, "Blasphemer or not, they are too powerful for you to defeat. They are currently at war with another though they is against us also. The only difference is, is they haven't attacked us. If what you have said about the Scythe is true then we must declare war on them otherwise sacrifices such as Arlim'Ashet's are worthless." Drais claims and with her Clergy agreeing.

Agon snarls, "But you don't have army apart from what's here, and even then they are led by our host."

"They're our people!" the Captain speaks out of turn again.

"Enough Captain Sweha!" Drais says and her authority is respected, "Grey-Groom has been good to us and this facility has benefited many of us as well."

Sweha looks at the grey alien, "But he's not one of us, no matter what he does. The enemy fears him and with good reason they want him destroyed. It's not hard to see this war is because he exists. We wouldn't have been involved if he hadn't have arrived in our lives!"

"Watch your mouth!" Rhea says in his defence.

"And you bring an asari into this room while the enemy is of the same race? I never have been victim in such fallacy in my life." Sweha states but with little support before turning to Drais, "High Servant, our people are ready to fight for what they believe in, we don't need the help of coward Krogan."

"Watch your mouth, Sweha." Krieg says speaking on their side.

"And what will do about it?" he faces the grey alien in disgust, "Arlim spoke highly of you and now he is the instrument that may cause our destruction."

Krieg stands and his height compared to the quarian is considerable, "There are forces more powerfully than me, and too much for that little mind of yours to comprehend. If your Clergy were not here, I would show you just how much I know."

"Silence!" Tovoh says in order to keep peace, "We all agree the Scythe have become an immediate threat but you do have neither the firepower nor the numbers to sustain long conflict, but we do." He states turning to his other High Lords, "My fellow equals, I put forwards an invitation to war."

The High Lords nod in agreement though a female stands to announce it, "We accept, our Lord Tovoh. But what of the Wisps?"

"We must join the war, but you are wright. Our numbers will not sustain us." Drais says.

"Then we will make up the numbers needed." the female krogan states before moving on, "But who will lead your armies?"

"The Captains have the loyalty of our people. We will lead them." Sweha claims though the Clergy give off disagreeing body language. He notices that they look to Krieg as he owns not just training facilities but more political pressure than he believes, "Him? You would trust our people with this?"

"That's enough Captain Sweha. I suggest you leave." Drais says standing up though the Captain does have supporters.

Sweha confronts the most senior Wisp in the galaxy, "This is blasphemy, High Servant. He doesn't know anything about us, he is a bosh'tet lord." Before he can continue Krieg grabs the quarian pushes him onto the table. He understood the word he spoke as he flips the Captain over looks in his eyes.

"Don't think you can insult me in my home. I should kill you." He says begin to pull the wiring of his helmet.

Drais and other quarians stand though it's up to her to intervene, "Grey-Groom, please stand down before you make this situation more dire than it already is." Krieg looks at both quarians and krogan before releasing the Captain.

Sweha sits up and wipes himself of the grey alien before turning around, "He has just assaulted me, and insulted us. I will not pledge my ship to this war if 'he' leading us." He says before walking out with a few supporters.

Tovoh leans so Drais can hear, "A word of warning. If they attempt to consult with the enemy over this little 'incident', we'll kill them. No one can consult with an enemy such as this."

The Clergy find this hard to accept and talk amongst themselves before passing a message to Drais, "If you do, we would prefer capture. Captain Sweha is only speaking from his heart; we can't blame him for that. We'll try and compromise with them." She turns to Krieg, "But for now, will you accept leading the Wisps to war?"

Krieg is put on the spot as this wasn't what he wanted as a position of General really isn't of his taste but knows he doesn't have a choice, "I accept."

**2185- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Udina is standing outside of the Citadel Embassies waiting for a report from Magnusson and his success in capturing Brutagus though he has currently failed for the turian made it past the human soldier with ease. He knows this is a bad sign as he watches the Alliance Major approach the diplomat with an annoyed but intrigued expression. The two begin walking towards the offices and avoid any external greetings.

"I take it you failed?" Udina asks and the silence gives him the answers, "He must have known but as a Spectre it wouldn't be surprising. I am not confident in C-Sec's investigation; the Alliance's intervention has halted everything."

Magnusson sighs, "I know, but I can't let him keep that data. Getting T'Anya in first place five years ago was a stretch but without Brutagus' involvement we would have failed."

Udina stops and turns to the officer, "Brutagus was the one who gave the Alliance information? Why wasn't I told?"

"The Alliance didn't need the heat from the Council at the time, we had additional problems. Brutagus was paid to contact the Shadow Broker and discover certain intel on T'Anya. I have a theory that he already knew where T'Anya was and played us." Magnusson admits.

Udina leads him into Anderson's office in order to talk more privately, "Tell me the specifics of this deal."

"I don't know how much the Alliance paid him for the information but capturing T'Anya was needed in order to increase our standing. You remember what the Council were like before? That wasn't all he wanted though." Magnusson sits down, "Brutagus I think was one of the Spectres responsible for Shepard's recruitment though it's not proven."

Udina leans on the desk hoping for more detailed explanation, "If he was, then why was Nihlus the one who was tasked to oversee humanity's first spectre?"

"I don't know. When we gained access to Spectre records through being on the Council, a strange note in Brutagus' file was found. It mentions Shepard as potential candidate. Over the years following, subtle references were found about the history, psychological profile and type of soldier until it stops two years ago. He wasn't tasked to observing Shepard due to his age." Magnusson reveals though isn't finished, "We also found that he was good friends with Saren, in fact he was his observer. I think Brutagus is a manipulator. He may know of things like the reapers as well but contacting him is impossible."

"Is there anything else?" Udina asks very unsatisfied.

"One thing. We checked old records to find anything out of the ordinary. Brutagus came to Citadel twenty years ago with three other people, two quarians and an asari."…

**12/02/2165- Eletania, Hercules System, Attican Beta**

A Scythe base sits within the expanse of the planet, the dome's surrounding spires ready to defend those who inhabit it. Those who wish to destroy are here because of the particular interest to one general. The general wore his grey armour and armed with two sleeves, built for mass destruction though in his left hand he carries his spear and rests it upon the rock he stands on. Through his mask he observes what they have to face but he wasn't concerned with danger anymore. The trenches built between the base and the hills were vast and had built in outposts for Scythe troops to defend the ground while frigates above protected the skies.

Krieg turns away from the construct and faces his army now consisting of exiled krogan and quarian wisps. Every wisp was armed and ready for battle while the krogan wear the blue and silver armour of their home, each lead by a battlemaster and all wore their helmets due to the planet's deceptive atmosphere. Agon had been promoted since they entered the war to Battlemaster General, the de facto chief of all battlemasters as he approaches his fellow war-chief and looks to him.

"The army is ready and so is the fleet. Let's hope we have the success like we did in the Kepler Verge." Agon says though looks at the structure and sees no difference.

"The battles in the Verge were a trek compared to this. It was our signature for the war. There defences are improving. The krogan won't move as fast as the wisps will, hold them back." Krieg states in an authoritative tone.

Agon looks at the grey alien in disagreement, "Are you kidding, we make four fifths of the infantry."

"Which is why we don't want you all killed in the first wave. I've already sent All-Feather's squads to apprehend the first of the outposts." He informs planning ahead.

"You should have told me." The krogan states before realising his strategy, "You knew I wouldn't agree?"

"Of course." He says before receiving a signal via his helmet, "He's taken them out. Tell you battlemasters to ease into the trenches tomorrow, when the ships start shooting, then we charge."

"I have a better idea." Agon says unhappy, "How about you suck my quad. Ecroy's squad will help All-Feather's tonight, and then I'll lead some of my battlemasters away from the trenches to those valleys in the east."

Krieg looks to him, "You want to draw the frigates away."

"The fire from our ships will be just as deadly as theirs. We don't want too many mistakes." Agon says having a more compassionate mind.

"Fine." Krieg says though on edge, "Do you think she's in there?"

Agon looks towards the complex with him, "The Commander who attacked Virmire? No. Our intelligence suggests she's part of Duchess' inner circle but after your little display she'll think twice before attacking anyone close to you."

"Good move. It delays her end." Krieg says before crouching and looking towards the trenches and seeing Agon, Likosh and other krogan making their way through, "What about the prison ships you've built. Will they contain biotics like these?"

The krogan nods, "Since we left Tuchanka, security has been our top priority. Those ships have hundreds of biotic-class holding chambers. I wouldn't worry."

"How many did you count from the previous battles?" Krieg wonders as prisoners of war were hard to contain in an interstellar conflict and especially a secret one.

"Only a few thousand but the star cluster wasn't very well equipped for our assault. Come on, we better explain the strategy." He says leading the grey alien back to the camps.

The Zenith is drifting in space with only a portion of the pirate fleet to protect it though its sheer size prevents any real threat. The reaper-inspired vessel is home of Krinal since she destroyed her lair on Korlus. The ship also housed many of her projects that she intended to continue with before her confrontation with Krieg and Rhea. The Emissary was currently observing her latest experiment as she watches through a glass window. The room was small and contained yet the equipment served a very important purpose.

The slab with the centre was shaped like a pod and various wires sprouting out of the bottom while the wall the other side of the window is inhabited by layers of machines and buttons. The drones that had served Krinal for many years continue to work for her new form, getting the project ready for its subject. Yox had been chosen by Krinal to undergo an experiment which is disclosed to only those who know of it.

Sedath is standing by her side though isn't sure this is best plan of action, "We had dozen of capture krogan back on Korlus, why use Yox of all people?"

Krnal turns to her Acolyte, "If this procedure is successful, we will be able bargaining with the High Lords themselves. The power I give Yox could be the power that turns them to my cause. Unlike most krogan, these ones are more open to negociation."

Yox climbs into the pod though it is uncomfortable. For this procedure to work he has had to wear a special suit made from a metallic alloy and though it is uncomfortable for him as lies down and allows the drone to continue. The machines begin planting tubes into areas of the suit and the redundant nervous system of the alien is the factor that allows this to happen. One drone hovers to the controls while the other shuts the pod with only the wires as the only exposed areas.

Krinal presses a button on her sleeve and sees her vision come to life. The suit grips Yox and even someone as tough as him feels the pain of greyish liquid pumping through the tubes and into him. The procedure is brief but the screams from room give even Sedath a sense of disgust but when the procedure is finished watches as the krogan breaks out of the pod and grabs the nearby drone, crushing it with his bare hands. When the other attempts to subdue him he grabs the retracting tentacles and squashes them until they break and ends the machine with his fist.

He turns and sees Krinal entering the room with Sedath, "What is this stuff. It burns!"

"The natural hardened areas of krogan have been mixed with a similar formula that I used on Sintarrio and Juna. Unlike them however it doesn't covered the whole of your body." She says before noticing the growth on Yox's face-growth is receding and his skin becoming paler, "Any abnormalities are being destroyed. You strength has increased and most like you speed as well."

"Then while am I itching? And my back feels…sensitive." Yox says trying to reach for back though the suit is strangely coming apart. Breaking through the seams are spikes the size of pins but as dense as titanium. Yox breathes in the sensation though he is overwhelmed. When he rips it off, his crest along with the portions of his body covered in natural plating is now covered with spines before they lower and look furrier, "What is this? This is wrong."

"I assure, Yox. Your new form will be more useful in upcoming events. To think you now have the power of feeling danger before it happens. Those spines as now part of your body and with act as armour for you. They'll pick up the quietest sound and feel the most insignificant movements. Your body is perfected for you next task."

"You were sending on the Eletania campaign. You told me?" he says falling to his knees and coughing.

"Others seem to be dealing with that but I have something more important for you. Rhea T'Anya is on the Citadel, find her and kill her. The child will be with her as well as a bodyguard and a Spectre, dispose of them as well. Any information useful, bring it to me." She orders though Yox isn't happy about it.

The next day and Krieg and Agon have begun the campaign to take the base on Eletania, the former is running through the trenches with a group of wisps while in the outposts overlook them. All-Feather's troops have capture but not killed the asari, who are being held together in sophisticated fields of energy as they sit huddled in discomfort. The grey alien however has to press on and hope Agon's diversion works.

The krogan and his army are east of their position and are readying the artillery while communicating with fleet above. The thousands of krogan ready for battle are restless while the wisps set up the cannons and are working as fast as they can. The artillery was of quarian design though it had armaments that were of krogan origin. The tripods held the cannon and the chair used to control it and krogan sit in these positions while wearing headgear built for using this weaponry. The cannon itself is a long but bulky shaft with four barrels inside of it. The magazine they intend to use is a curved object inserted in the left side while exiting the right when fired. A krogan stands next to them with multiple magazines for reloading. All in all, the tripods have 360 degree rotation.

Agon and his battlemasters wait in a circle while the General waits for the all clear, "Okay, the fleet is ready. They'll be entering the atmosphere in five minutes. Send your troops forwards and rendezvous with Krieg's as soon as you can. The frigates will be drawn here by the fleet and we'll take them down in air and on ground." He orders and they walk away satisfied with the plan.

Meanwhile Krieg and the wisps have reached the enemy as they avoid the spires turret fire and engage Scythe troops exiting them. All-Feather is also present above the trenches and balances himself while shooting down a few in front to give Krieg some leeway. The quarian hops onto the walls with ease as he knows the use of his rifle is limited in all-out warfare and takes his pistol and sabre in order to join the fray.

He lands and cuts a Scythe trooper across the chest before tripping another stabbing her in in the back. His scouting ahead of Krieg makes it difficult as he has to fend off a group by himself using his pistol for range and the sabre for melee. The Scythe push him into a corner after knocking him back with biotics, a weapon a quairan cannot fight against as the Captain readies her pistol. However the sounds of a roaring sound takes them off guard and focus away from All-Feather. The wisp dives for his sabre and rolls but his movement doesn't end there as he begins his slaughter again. Three asari fall victim before Krieg leaps into the enemy and like his friend uses his spear as his main weapon while the wisps use their assault rifles.

Krieg turn to his troop, "Push forward!" he shouts before pressing a button on his helmet, "Agon, is the diversion ready?"

"It is, the fleet is on time. Good luck, my army is heading your way." He answers cutting the channel.

Krieg leads his army into the second wave and cuts down a few asari before seeing the entrance to the dome. The ramp was long and the asari are so many but this won't stop him as they fire his way he releases energy from his palm. The beam of blue light hit the asari with such force that some are knocked into others clearing the path while the wisps aim their weapon and hold position. The doors to the dome shut immediately and as it is the only root they enter on mass are stuck until Agon's army can arrive.

The grey alien turns to his chief lieutenant, "Send you troops to the spires and disable them."

"They're too well-guarded, General. And Scythe troops are using them to reach the surface." The Lieutenant points to state his claim as they while see the very enemy themselves beginning to surround their position. Krieg, All-Feather and the other quarians prepared to engage the enemy once again.

On the Citadel, Rhea isn't having quite the experience though is on her toes at all times as she walks through the wards wearing her blue armour, which hasn't been worn in three years though she has been a wanted target for nearly eight. She has company with her as Brutagus had easy access through the Citadel being a Spectre while Yenea was in disguised as a quarian and Chek accompanies them to avoid suspicion.

The wards are crowded as usual but this wasn't the time for observing as the group walk towards a more restricted area of the massive space station. The area was one of the centre of research within Council Space though was only friendly to some. Brutagus takes advantage of his position as he waves his omni-tool to the C-Sec guard ad he checks the database while the others wait impatiently. Chek was also wanted by C-Sec for his time in the company of Tido but since the drell's death the turian who leads them has become somewhat of an icon but still doesn't enjoy it.

Brutagus turns to them, "Come on." he says and the three follow him towards a building that was all too familiar to the turian.

It was the very building Krieg was transported to when he was captured and was the centre of K-Thousand though to others it was an institute of research with K-Thousand's levels never existing. The group walk towards an elevator and enter though the other three can't help but feel nervous as the C-Sec guard within keep an eye on them. All three of them had their faces covered but Brutagus didn't in order to give a more innocent feel to group. The second's pass slowly before they enter a hallway that was near empty. Brutagus looks towards each door for the wright name they were looking for but stops five doors down and in all languages see the name 'Solus' on the door.

They enter and are met with a salarian with his back turned. Unlike his relative in the present day this salarian didn't look as hyperactive as his manner and eyes showed laziness and disinterest in other people. He's skin tome is similar though his face has no scars but one eye was covered by a microscope attack via a strap.

The salarian turns and sees the quartet, "Well…this is…unexpected. Normally I don't get visitors." He states though in slow manner.

Brutagus is first to approach him, "Doctor Tinun Solus? My name is-"

"I watch the news, Mister Brutagus. We have Tido's body stored, quite a mess." He says walking over to his desk, "Are sure your report was accurate." The salarian watches as Rhea takes her helmet though her presence doesn't change him, "Ah, you're wanted by the authorities, Rhea T'Anya. This isn't kind of place to turn yourself in."

Rhea smiles at the dry humour though takes out the disk Arakon gave her a few months prior and places it on his desk, "Arakon sends his regards."

"Arakon? Good student." He says picking up the disk and observing it, "Listen, I'm a busy guy. I don't have time to look at tissue samples for Spectre investigation…or worse."

Rhea crouches Yenea and holds her shoulders, "Yenea, you can take it off now."

The salarian sits before as Yenea takes of the mask that normal quarians wear to reveal her face. He is taken somewhat aback but doesn't express it very well. He looks at the disk and raises his eyebrows before standing and heading into his laboratory, directing the others to follow.

Krieg slices an asari's stomach before twisting around and repeating the maneuverer on two others. All-Feather is backing him though unlike Krieg's heavy, more aggressive style the quarian is about to fight the asari with finesse. Scythe troops had gained the upper hand though the noises of krogan appearing in the east is a warm sight and sound. The krogan fire their weapons towards the asari and cut through their defences with ease but they take casualties as well as the charge had left them open to enemy fire and turrets above the spires.

The battlemasters encourage them to head forwards and work through as many injured had extra organs to use due to the krogans natural biology. Four of these reptilian aliens are carrying a bomb that may clear the way into the dome but this is a problem for them also as enemy fire was focused upon them. The shields keep them from being harmed but it doesn't mean that krogan don't fall protecting them.

Krieg uses his biotics to throw shockwaves and is successful in clearing the way for them but has at the same time to contend with the asari who they subdued. They seize the opportunity to free themselves and disarm the quarians with their biotics and continue the fight but with more focus on the grey alien. Krieg's armour gives him a considerable amount of protection but the sound of the bullets hitting shields and then the plates causes only harm for those around him.

Krieg uses a biotic charge though the aftereffect as more casualties than normal as rage pushes him through the enemy and knocking them out of the way. Those who have time for a breather watch as Krieg is consumed by his power and decimates the asari that tried to free themselves. After only a minute Krieg has to stop due to the intense use of power but All-Feather holds him before falling and shoots the enemy away with his pistol. When he has a moment he drags Krieg up ramp of the dome and pulls his sniper rifle out and readies himself for defending him.

"No…must fight…need to fight…" Krieg whispers to himself as he leans against the door and feels its density. He gets up and stumbles down the ramp trying his best avoid the cross fire with asari on one side and quarians and krogan on the other.

Yenea lies on a bed before Tinun presses a keypad that leads inside a wall. The child is scared as green line of light scans her body. Outside the Doctor himself looks at the upcoming data and is amazed as he hasn't seen an alien like her before though like many has heard of the rumours and the infamous project behind them. Rhea and Brutagus also take an interest while Chek leans on the wall disinterested in all the science in the room.

Tinun puts the disk into the console and brings up the data on Krieg in order to compare it with his own daughter, "Amazing, I've never seen anything like this before. Arakon was wright in contacting me."

"So, what is there to see?" Rhea asks looking at the videos of the cells of her friend.

Tinun holds his chin in intrigue, "This Krieg you tell me of… he is the child's father yet doesn't she have these mutations?"

"That's correct." She says as pictures appear of the alien from then and now, "That's what he looks like now." She says pointing to the more developed form.

"I see. His appearance seems to be one of the side-effects of his evolution." He says before typing in instructions to focus on certain areas of Yenea's physiology.

"Mutation." Rhea corrects him.

The salarian smiles, "Quite the contrary. Krieg's mutations are not harming him…there augmenting him."

"They're making him stronger? How? He blows out steam pretty quickly on the battlefield when using his biotics." Brutagus says knowing this with first-hand experience.

"He's a biotic?" Tinun asks bringing up comparable data, "These are samples of DNA taking from asari. Their evolution on Thessia made it possible for them to be natural in field while races such as salarians, turians, humans, and quarians have to be exposed to eezo or treatment. If he is natural biotic then these mutation cells are key to why he hasn't died yet."

"They protect him from himself." Rhea wonders though cannot put the pieces together.

"This DNA structure is unstable, replicating it will most likely lead to failure." Tinun theorises though he is correct as K-Thousand was a failure and Krinal had to create a separate template.

"K-Thousand managed it." Brutagus recalls.

"But the one on presidium was unstable, mentally." Rhea recalls though it was eight years ago.

"A side-effect not uncommon among clones, especially if they knew they were one. Telling if Krieg has parents is hard to tell. Despite the DNA being unstable it looks fairly complete, with the 'mutations' as the missing piece. Who is the mother of this child?"

"Someone we know, she doesn't have the mutations. It's why we're here. Is Yenea in danger?" Rhea asks keeping Yenea's heritage a secret yet asking a vital question.

"Only if she doesn't have natural biotic potential like her father, only a small amount would be enough stabilise the condition. Otherwise I wouldn't give her long to live." He says calibrating the data at rapid pace, "This body is like it was created to host biotic potential. Your friend must have more power within him than the most powerful matriarchs, with it only getting stronger."

"How much stronger?" Rhea wonders though Krieg has performed some strange feats.

With that question the answer would come halfway across the galaxy with Krieg walking through the carnage of the battle around him. The grey alien was still weak from his charge attacks though this only keeps him going. Ecroy is in the battle also though has been away from Krieg's position for some time. The squad commander is taking cover behind a trench with the gate to the inside of the dome within sight as he begins charging and shooting down the asari with Likosh and his squad by his side. The krogan are quick on their feet and join All-Feather.

"Where's Krieg going?" he asks though his only response is point to what the alien was currently trying to do.

Likosh gets close, "The Scythe are taking out every bomb with tried to get through them. We can't pierce the door without them."

Krieg uses little biotic energy to jump onto the walls of the trenches though falls when landing. He picks himself up and folds his spear and puts it on his back. He looks around and sees the last of his army traveling through the trenches and seeing that now is the time to use his power. He turns and waves his hands to warm everyone to clear the door. Ecroy, Likosh and All-Feather order their troops to push the enemy away from the door though have no idea of how Krieg is going to do it.

The grey alien breathes heavily though focuses himself on the ground. He holds his palms to the ground and a blue aura surrounds him though when he does this his face shows unbearable pain. The ground shakes in front of him and his allies feel it, making them push away even faster. He grips his hands and the quakes become more violent as the gunfire stops for moment to see what believe was unbelievable.

The ground collapses in front of him in the form a shockwave would, piece by piece. Everyone looks in awe and even Agon can hear the earth falling from the distance though can't quite make out Krieg. The alien channels what power he has left and pushes his hand from under his shoulders upwards and the attack becomes more violent. The shockwave causes soldiers on both sides to fall though not into the pit being created. When the attack reaches the ramp the metal falls into ground while the foundations of the gate are ruptured. The only entrance into the dome is weakened but entry into the structure has become more problematic but Krieg doesn't know this as he lay on the trench wall passed out from his attack.

"No, even matriarchs can't do that." Rhea states sure of herself.

"But if it's true, and he doesn't control it… who knows what he's capable of. His power will have limits like any other, but who knows when that limit is when reached." He says before looking at the console with greater interest each time.

While they theorise with no hard facts, a warehouse is currently occupied on Zakera Ward. This warehouse in particular is property of Norim who since hearing of Tido's death has taken full control of Iochus' criminal empire with no resistance. This has also made his work easier with the Emissary as he points to one of his drell to shift a huge crate being loaded via machines. The drell crosses his arms while walking in front of the crate like he is expecting something inside it.

He wasn't the only one inside the warehouse as hiding behind cover in the upper levels looking down is a salarian C-Sec officer who wears his armour and readies his weapon. Garahie had since returned to his old work and was currently investigating Norim though whether because he has been ordered to or not is unclear. He waits for the crate's doors to open and drell gather around to see another crate inside while a figure walks out.

The figure is Juna disguised in her beautiful form though Norim instantly recognises her, "Hello Norim. Have you missed me?"

"What do you think? It took a lot of money to get through without trouble. Lucky for me, human C-Sec officers are more liberal." Norim says while the turian walks down the ramp.

"Well we wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." She states while holding a device. She presses it and the second crate opens and allows the inhabitant to get some fresh air despite it being on a station. "How are we?"

Yox walks out of the crate wearing only the bottom half of his armour. The krogan didn't need anything else due to the treatment that Krinal provide though his spiny new image is giving him itches as he scratches the areas that meet the flesh. "Was this necessary?"

"Come on… you really think C-Sec would allow you to enter the Citadel looking like you do now?" she asks.

"Fuck you! You get to transform, and I get this." The krogan say while his spines flicker.

"Bit twitchy isn't he?" Norim remarks and Juna finds it amusing.

His words don't mean much when he feels the firt of Yox in his face, enhanced by the compound that covers him. The other drell ready their weapons though Norim orders them to hold fire as he gets up, "A few more and you would be the one who twitches."

"Enough, Yox. You know where you have to go?" Juna asks and gets a nod for a reply, "Then go." She orders as the Acolyte walks out of the warehouse while she turns to Norim, "I'll need back up for this. The Emissary wants this mission to be a success."

Garahie listen via a device attached to his visor and exits the building to reach the balcony. He looks down to see Yox beginning to pace up the more populated areas of the wards and knows that following him will stop a more immediate threat.

Krieg opens his eyes and see Arakon, who is their medic on the battlefield. The salarian looks up to Agon, Ecroy and Likosh and nods to indicate he is okay as they help him up. All-Feather and the other quarians along with the krogan are rounding up the prisoners of war and from the evening sky the battle was over for them. Krieg stands on his own two feet and shakes his head in pain as that last attack was almost enough to put everyone else in danger.

Ecroy turns and looks up to the hole he created as asari are escorted out via platforms and self-built bridges, "That was something Krieg. You saved a lot of lives."

Krieg looks up to see the damage and the asari who had surrendered, "There's so many of them still alive? What happened while I was out?"

"They surrendered. You spooked them, along with everyone else here." Ecroy says before leading up the damaged and uneven ramp. "There are skirmishes inside but nothing we can't handle. The resistance has dropped, amazingly. The frigates were obliterated and teams have been sent to round up any straglers."

"What happening with the prisoners?" Krieg asks still getting his bearings.

"We're taking them to the ships to transport to the central station. There's more than we anticipated." Agon states while looking at the hole created by Krieg's power.

Rhea is helping Yenea dress in her quarian disguise as she helps the little alien with the straps that hold the suit together. Her hood is down and she looks at the asari and look on her face. Rhea was in a state of panic due to the confirmation of Arakon through Tinun but also the fact that only a few people knew she was coming here behind Krieg's back. Yenea sits on a bench while Rhea takes the helmet and is fitting it to her little companion.

"Rhea?" she says though very shyly.

Rhea looks up to her and smiles hiding her worry, "Yes Yenea? Are you feeling okay?"

Yenea nods, "When's Daddy coming to see us?"

"Daddy's away for now, doing some very important work. You'll see him in a few weeks. He trusts me so be are you best behaviour when we get back to the ship and not more playing in the hanger bay with your friends." She says though in a more childless tone.

"Sorry. Me and my friends like play there because it's big." Yenea admits, "Rhea…can we go find something for daddy?"

"What do you mean?" Rhea asks while placing the quarian helmet on the grey alien.

Yenea feels it on her, "I saw something in a store that daddy would like."

Rhea smiles, "Then we'll have a look." She says helping her stand while putting her own helmet on. She escorts her out of the room to meet the other two while Tinun remains in his office. "Are we ready to go?"

"Just about. Tinun won't be saying goodbye and it's probably wise to leave now. The fact you have weapons is getting C-Sec nervous." Brutagus states leading them down the hallway towards the elevator.

"Wait, Yenea wants to go back to retail district before we-" he sentence is stopped by an alarm. "Shit?"

"Come on." Brutagus states heading towards the elevator and the group enter to quickly avoid the incident that is occurring. As they wait they look through the glass of the elevator and see that the commotion stems from outside as Brutagus pulls out his pistol ready for a confrontation, "Get Yenea out of here. Chek, keep them close."

"No problem." he says before noticing an air-car is thrown across his eye-line. "I think that's a better idea more than ever now."

When they exit Brutagus paces ahead to where the car was thrown and before he can face the opponent, Yox is running towards him. He manages to roll out the way and fire a few round but as they hit the krogan's new plating they are absorbed like Sintarrio's skin. He signals Rhea and the others to go while he continues the skirmish and faces this enhanced foe.

Yox is still having trouble with his built-in armour due to the sensitivity but as he turns and faces the spectre he sees his target. The turian readies himself and knows from the lack of ranged weaponry on the krogan that he intends to get close. He sees that not only his intention but the lack of discipline as Yox begins another charge towards him.

Rhea is leading both Chek and Yenea away from Yox as they enter a system of alleyways. Chek holds his shotgun while Rhea holds her pistol in one hand and Yenea's hand in the other. They turn left hoping to reach a more populated area to hide where they can blend in but those who chase them are yet to be seen by them. As they exit they see the various alien walking past and quickly enter the crowd.

"Will Brutagus be okay with that thing?" Chek asks worried about the appearance of Yox.

"He's dealt with worse. We better leave now or we not leaving at all." She answers and holds the little alien's hand tightly.

The position within the crowd is keeping them safe but they don't notice the unusual amount of drell in the area as each one was given a description of who to look for. They work for Norim and through him Juna and the turian was disguised as male civilian while the group walk near her. She keeps an eye on them and waits for the opportunity to follow them and as she begins walking in her disguise, the drell follow. The three are not privy to this and feel safe as they quickly enter another alleyway to catch their breath and rethink the situation.

"We need to get back to the ship. Brutagus said if anything like this happened we leave him here." Rhea states though pulls her pistol out again.

"But with him gone, won't the others get suspicious?" Chek asks thinking about Krieg who knows he is in Rhea's company.

"We'll think of something." Rhea say before seeing a turian in crowd pointing a pistol, "Get down."

As the turian shoots Rhea brings Yenea down and covers her while Chek holds himself against the opposite side and waits for the incoming threat. Juna is persistent and walks through the dispersing crowd but the shots of Chek's shotgun hold her back for a few moments for Rhea and Yenea to gain ground. As they are about to turn the corner they halt when a familiar face pulls them aside and indicates to keep quiet.

Juna keeps calm as she waits for Chek to blow his cover again and when he does shoots the shogun so it backfires. Chek falls to the ground and crawls on his back with the former spectre holding her pistol only a few feet away from him. "You should've died with the rest of them back on Korlus. The Emissary will be happy with your head." Before she can pull the trigger a grenade is throw from the shadows and attaches itself to turian. While trying to pull it off Juna panics and Chek uses this opportunity to follow the others.

The group are escorted to an air-car hidden in the back of the alleyways as Rhea and Yenea get in the back while Chek sits on the passenger's seat. "Didn't think you'd be back after last time?"

Rhea smiles, "Thanks Garahie. How did you know we were here?"

"I didn't." he informs while lifting the car and travelling upwards, "You only became a variable when I saw who else was here. I haven't seen Juna back since the last time either."

"Why can I never tell?" Rhea asks herself.

"Believe me, I wasn't sure." Garahie states though he continues, "For the past three years I've been checking out Norim and his activities. We know he's a part of this giant operation involving Krinal but until today there hasn't been exactly much talk. I think they knew you were coming here."

"No one knows we're here, Garahie." Rhea admits. "We need to leave, now."

"I can get you back to the docking bays, but you're on your own from there." The salarian states keeping an eye on the freeways, "I'm lucky they haven't gotten to me yet. They know I worked with you but they haven't made a move until now."

Brutagus and Yox's fight has taken into the streets as the spectre continues to keep a range from the krogan. Yox pushes a pair of salarians out of the way while pacing himself and is getting agitated by Brutagus' lack of fighting. His spiny areas begin to activate as the information of space around gives him a better understanding of the battlefield. He looks to one of the salarians and picks them up only to throw the alien towards Brutagus. The turian can't shoot at the civilian but the time doesn't allow him to catch him either so he moves out of the way and shoots the krogan.

The heated bullets are absorbed by Yox as he picks up a nearby crate full of store supplies and throws at Brutagus. This allows Brutagus to act by taking a grenade attached from his armour and throws it at the cube while in midday. When it explodes it gives off smoke and allows the spectre to continue fighting. Yox can't see through the smoke but his spines give him a sense of direction and even detection. He turns and grabs Brutagus by the throat as he felt his presence coming towards him.

Yox hold tightly, "Time to die, skullface." He says but before a response can be given Brutagus points his pistol towards a fleshy area of Yox and fires.

The turian is dropped as Yox holds is arm and sees this as an opportunity to get the upper hand. He walks out of the smoke to be met by C-Sec officers ready to fire but the spectre knows they are better than that. The leader of the law enforcer signals him to move out of the way but the spectre slides over their air-car and is ready to talk, "Weapons won't cut it, officer. You'll need to use your heads."

The asari officer looks over to the clearing smoke, "It's just a krogan."

"A krogan with an impregnable shell." He informs adding a wire attachment to his pistol, "Your biotic are needed with this. Listen to me and no more people will get hurt." He orders and whispers a set of commands to the officer.

Juna is within the nearby street and knows she has lost her target though her civilian disguise is able to hide her from C-Sec's perimeter they have recently set up. She quickly changes into a C-Sec officer and gains quick entry past the crowd and nearer to Yox's position. The officers were helping various civilians out of the streets and aliens hear the sounds of gunfire nearby. She however had little interest as she takes her pistol out and heads down the street with haste in order to regroup with her allies. Norim and his drell had to flee into the alleyways after what happened and Yox's rampage makes them useless against a spectre as well. Juna sees the leader of the reptilians and approaches him with an unhappy expression while transforming into her more common form.

"Where have you been?" Juna asks.

Norim confronts her very unhappy, "We've been hiding. The area is covered with C-Sec and they if find out you're behind this then-"

"I don't exist, Norim. The only person who is going to get himself killed is you. Why haven't you gone after T'Anya?" she asks and her real reason for being here.

"I've sent three cars full of my guys after her. She had outside help. Garahie has been a pain in the ass since he got back." He informs and isn't happy with the salarian.

"Then we'll have to get rid of Garahie wont we." She says leading the group away from the commotion." She says almost enjoying the aspect of killing him.

Krieg and the other war leaders are inside the Scythe base which the asari tried so are to protect until they knew they couldn't win. The dome acted as a shield for the city-like structure inside with buildings and built-in lights on the roof to give a friendlier feel. Asari were being rounded up as the civilian workers within consisted of only a few members of the population but as the krogan and quarian continue Krieg leans against a wall and takes out a cigar to smoke. The shield covering the entrance allows them to take their helmets off so grey alien wastes no time in lighting it and keeps calm while thinking about the damage done to the gate.

Agon approaches and leans next to him though the krogan can see that Krieg isn't very happy, "Hey, we won didn't we?"

Krieg looks at him and smiles before taking a smoke, "Nothing was found in the data records. Nothing about their main base."

"Wars take time to win, Krieg." He says before looking to the central plaza and seeing the asari, "We've developed a problem."

"What?"

"These asari still here didn't participate in the battle. They weren't a threat because they have no weapons. They didn't even try and use biotics." Agon informs as the children are rounded up and each one has been victim to a form of physical abuse. "I think we have a case of slavery on our hands. The mines here point to it." He predicts though looks over to Ecroy, "Hey, Ecroy! Bring that asari over there."

Ecroy and Likosh look at a maiden and escort her over to the two generals. She has a purple complexion and wears tight blue clothes though they weren't exactly in mint condition. Ecroy speaks, "This is Hecia. She has been informing us of the treatment here."

Krieg scans the asari and see cuts on her bare arms, "What do you do here?"

"I'm a custodian here, or was." She says though by her manner she was scared, "I…I…I'm sorry, I'm not used to…aliens."

"How long have you been here?" Krieg asks her.

"I came here when I was twenty years old, so thirty-eight years." She informs. "Why are you here?"

Krieg takes another smoke, "To kill your leader."

Hecia is taken aback, "I don't where she is, okay." She begins to panic, "I just work in the mines. Another few years and I would've been on the frontlines."

Agon crosses his arms, "You would've enlisted?"

She nods, "It's the only way out of here. My two sisters are like me but I've seen what they do to us, what they've done to me. It's the only way to get out from this." She says sincerely though her intentions are not strictly parallel with the superiors. "They say we do this for the good of the asari, but does that mean they get to treat us the way they do? Just because we're purebloods."

Krieg crosses his arms, "Pure-blooded asari working the mines as slaves, makes no sense? The Scythe are about superiority."

Agon looks around and sees these asari and what they've been through, "No, asari will want to avoid any kind of genetic dead-end so they must breed with other aliens. These however are merely victims. I think these are orphan children, mother wasn't important or killed, maybe even victim to worse crime. I'm going order the Battlemasters to find any catalogues of these people, find out we can." He states before nodding to Ecroy as they take Hecia away.

Krieg knows the possibility of what these asari are and looks to Agon, "So we're fighting a supremacist, racist, secretive organisation who have tendencies to treat those of their own race below them as slaves or worse. It just makes me more willing to kill them all." He says before inhaling the smoke and breathing fiercely.


	46. The Best Intentions

**Chapter XLVI: The Best Intentions**

**13/02/2165- Freeways, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Garahie flies through the freeways with haste though is unaware of the incoming pursuers. Norim had sent his gang to take the air-car down and capture its passenger. Yenea holds onto Rhea while Chek sits in the front seat and keeps watch behind them but the salarian driving uses his instincts and pulls out of the freeway back down into the wards. He looks for an appropriate spot to land and feels that near the retail kiosks are decent as the drell wouldn't want to attract C-Sec attention in a populated area.

As they exit Chek and Garahie stand guard as Rhea holds Yenea and looks to the salarian, "Why have we stopped?"

Garahie turns, "If anyone follows us, we'll be safer among this area. C-Sec has area locked with no criminal influence."

Chek turns and helps the pair out, "How do we get to the docking bays from here?"

"All you need to do is follow the map on level three, then head to the docking bays and find your transport. I can come with you but I might be better creating a diversion." The salarian states.

"Thanks Garahie. It was nice to see you again after all this time." she says kissing him on the check, "You don't want to come with us?"

"I can't. I'm better off here doing work than racing around the galaxy with a wanted asari and her band of misfits, excluding me of course." He jokes, "But takes care not to get court here. If Pallin knew I helped you, he'll have all he needs to get rid of me."

"Then could you at least help Brutagus?" she pleads and the salarian smiles and nods, "Thank you." She then leads the two away from the air-car and Garahie gets back inside.

Within the district where Yox attacked and Brutagus was fighting against him, the deformed krogan as he sees himself is wondering in the now empty neighbourhood. Everything had been abandoned since his attack though C-Sec are slowly closing in on the Acolyte. A squad of three are approaching and hold their weapons up but the krogan doesn't turn but only senses them through his spines. He turns only slightly and waits for the triggers to be pulled.

Brutagus looks down from the rafters and sees that he has to initiate his plan of action now before anyone can get hurt. He signals the asari officer across the other side to begin shooting downwards and attracts Yox's attention while the officers below do the same. Yox aims for the trio below and grabs the salarian by the hand and swings him above which was an unexpected feat as the speed and impact cuts the officer vision though Brutagus signals to continue.

As they shoot down some of the shots hit into Yox's more fleshy area and this only agitates him before the turian jumps down and begins a game of cat and mouse. The slimmer alien is quick on his feet as he turns the nearest corner and Yox's follows though his charging causes him to hit the walls, scrapping them with his spines. Brutagus knows that if he can lure Yox away into a more confined space, he will have the advantage.

This is becoming clear as the krogan begins to pace slower and look around as the system of small walkways makes it hard for him to spot the turian. Brutagus is back in the rafters again and looks to the other C-Sec officers he enlisted as they are currently working on some control panels. The saalrian officer is quick as he orders the alleyway into security mode as when Yox steps into a squared area his spines peek up and a wall behind him sprouts from behind and in front.

Brutagus nods as they have him trapped but it is unexpected when the krogan jumps and grabs the balcony of the rafters and drag Brutagus with his free arm. The krogan quickly grabs the turian by the neck and squeeze hoping to get the last laugh. The remaining C-Sec officer fires his pistol towards the krogan's exposed neck and piercing the skin are tranquiliser darts. Despite the high dosage a krogan normal takes it only affects Yox a little but as the officer continues shooting the more affective drug.

The turian is released and Yox falls back to the ground and on his front though is still awake but incapable, "Fuck. Is he dead?"

The turian officer looks down, "He should be but he shouldn't have been able to jump this high. Pallin's going to be pissed."

"Tell Pallin to arrange something to contain him and bring him to Doctor Tinun Solus." He orders while holding his neck.

**2185- Presidium, Citadel, Serpent Neubla**

Brutagus leans against the bridge where the day before held a conversation with Anderson and looks at the statue dedicated to the Krogan. He thinks back to that event and holds his neck as the feeling of the krogan's strength was immense even back then. He is waiting for his fellow acquaintance on the Citadel as Likosh walks in full armour to protect his identity though how he gained access to the presidium is only through being associated with the turian. He leans on the bridge next him ready to speak.

"Are we okay? What did Anderson say?" he asks.

"Udina won't be a problem. Magnusson will." Brutagus informs, "Are we set?"

"Things seem to be going as planned. Have you talked to Sedath?" Likosh as though doesn't get a reply, "He'll need to know. This operation has been delicate from the start."

"I know that, Likosh. Sedath has pulled some strings here, we'll be ready for what's to come." He says before walking down the bridge, "Have you located her?"

"She's on the furthest end of Zakera Ward. An old bunker she discovered." Likosh informs knowing where Rhea has been hiding since her arrival. "When do we get ready?"

"This will only be brief. The less of us there are, the better." The Spectre says before looking over to Anderson's office, "If we pull this off, we'll have fewer things to worry about."…

**20/02/2165- Raheel-Leyya Binary System, Valhallan Threshold**

The Zenith waits in the binary star system and has to refuel with the help of the solar panelling that fold out of the ship's hull. The dreadnaught lay in wait as the nearby relay releases a few shuttles and they are quick to enter the mother of the fleet. Inside within the bridge, drones under Krinal's leadership continue their duties while at the same time the Emissary herself sits on a chair looking at their side's current progress as well as Krieg's while dictating notes to Sedath. The bridge has two floors with the entrance above and the drones which pilot this titan below with a half-circle of machines, each having a tentacle that inserts into the computers rather than actual controls.

She turns when the doors open and Juna enters with a leash and on the other end Norim has his arms tied behind his back and from his face he had been beaten to a pulp. Krinal stands up and looks at the drell as this only meant one thing. Sedath could see from her expression she was unhappy so he reframes from speaking while keeping a cool manner about things.

Krinal looks to Juna, "What happened, Juna?"

"Yox blew it. He's now in custody of the Council. They want to study him." She says just as annoyed.

The Emissary breathes in before seeing Norim on his knees and kicks the drell in the face before sitting down, "What the fuck? It's simple, isn't it? Rhea lands on the Citadel, she takes the child to some doctor, and you take the child." She leans back, "Let Yox rot in a cell for all I care! I give him the power to kill and he can't even get follow orders."

"You did choose him, Emissary." Sedath states though he immediately feels the full force of a biotic push against the wall to Juna's shock.

"When I ask for your opinion, Sedath, I'll ask." She hears the sound of Norim groaning and looks at Juna, "Well, put him out of his misery." She orders and Juna pulls her pistol out ready to fire, "Wait! Take him to the lab, he may still have uses."

"Yes, Emissary." She answers pulling Norim's leash and the drell stands before walking out.

She turns to Sedath who is still sitting against the wall, "Get up." She says as she watches the salarian get his baring's, "I need you to administrate the Type-I procedure on the drell."

"Buts it's not ready, Emissary. The preliminaries have-"

"I said do it, Sedath." She says before intentionally ignoring him as he walks out the room.

As Krinal has spoken and left Yox's fate in the hands of the Citadel, the krogan has been kept in lab though no movement has been allowed. The krogan has been placed on a restrained too strong for even him to break out of as his wrists, forearms, upper-arms, ankles, knees, waist and chest have been locked down and even C-Sec officers have been posted to hold their weapons ready for disposing him if he attempts to escape. The room is small but the glass window on the other side is a perfect view for both his capturer and the doctor researching him.

"So, Tinun. What do you think?" Brutagsu asks.

Tinun looks at the console built into the wall and observes the security footage. "Well, he's stronger, faster, and more dangerous than any krogan I've ever seen. This procedure that has been administered on him has been done with expert knowledge on his physiology. He may not be the first, but he looks the most successful trial." the salarian says before taking the disc out and giving it to the turian, "Take this back Arakon, I'd like his opinion. On this is also a closed channel to me so we can…discuss notes."

"I'll make sure he gets it." He answers before leaving the salarian to observe the krogan and his twitching before pressing a button, "Sedate him." And a sound of dart knocks the krogan out so he can begin his procedure.

The fleet of V-shaped ships above the planet Eletania have decimated the Scythe fleet protecting the base below on the surface. The krogan exiles from as early has the Krogan Rebellions are not bound by Citadel Law and to the Council their existence is either disputed or unknown. However here they are very real and as shuttles fly into the dreadnaughts built in the likeness of krogans face, those in charge are awaiting their new orders. In the hanger bay, hundreds of asari are being pushed down by krogan in red armour and being organised, ready to be sent to facilities for them to stay for duration.

Agon, the Battlemaster General is walking between the lines and with him are Commander Ecroy and Krieg, the latter being acting General to the quarian Wisps in this campaign. The trio enter an elevator and head upwards to the quarter allocated for officers of the army and when they exit, the bronze covered walls are arched and small for a krogan but they had to manage somehow. Agon leads the pair into a room which was circular but had screens open and on them were images of asari being questioned by experts.

Krieg stands and looks at the procedure while the other sits down, "What's going on here?"

Agon speaks, "We're questioning these slaves on their accounts within the base. It's clear that even the Scythe show signs of social caste among their people."

"And yours don't?" Krieg asks and knows that their society isn't perfect.

"Those who disagree with the High Lords make different rules, and then we destroy them. Slavery is an unjust employment for anyone." He states before bringing up a report given to him from the High Lords themselves. He reads his language thoroughly and leans on his chair, "This is…unexpected."

Ecroy sits up, "What does Tovoh say?"

"It's not Tovoh. All of them have come to a conclusion on what to do with the slaves recovered… Apparently we're going to take them in." Agon says confused.

Krieg turns with a distrustful face, "And keep them as slaves?"

"No." Agon immediately objects, "The High Lords have stated that because of their innocence in the war they will be given an offer to join us on our homeworld."

"The people won't like that?" Ecroy says, "They haven't been exactly thrilled with asari, let alone the Scythe themselves."

"That's where you wrong. The High Lord of every state opened a vote." He looks to Krieg, "Normally this doesn't happen but when the details were revealed about their 'disposition', there was a landslide majority in favour of taking them in. Only the things they don't want are soldiers, they can die for all they care."

"So your people will take these asari into their homes?" Krieg wonders.

"Well it's not like they can function in the galaxy as it is. Too many alien races, dangerous people taking advantage. We're the closest thing they've got ironically to any kind of similarity." Agon informs before looking at the report again, "The High Lords with support of local authorities are beginning negotiations for an integration act, surprisingly."

Ecroy sighs, "I'll order some of the fleet to begin transporting them. I hope we don't regret it."

Agon turns to Krieg, "We'll have to postpone the next assault a few weeks." He informs before getting another message, "The Emissary's forces have attacked Scythe forces in the Styx Theta Cluster, as we predicted. That'll keep them busy for a while."

"I'm just surprised they haven't attempted to reclaim this position. The ore inside that mine is plentiful enough." Ecroy says before standing up.

"That's why we're staying here for the next few weeks. The fleet sent back will bring mining crews to take whatever was started." Agon admits as he stands and approaches Krieg, "You've got a few weeks off. I can find the location of the Malal and give you a shuttle for a while?"

Krieg smiles at the thought, "I can't leave the troops here though."

"You can. We're in this together Krieg. We'll feed them, keep them healthy while you visit home." He states, "Don't you want to know how your men are doing in their training camp?"

"Word from my Administrator, enlisting went up four times the regular rate. They must really want to fight." Krieg says proud of what he's given.

"And wouldn't they like to see their General?" Agon asks and it's the final straw in convincing the grey alien to return home for a while.

Rhea and company are back on the Malal which keeps safe within the Sentry Omega Cluster near Krieg's home. It has been a few days but the group managed to get out of Council Space without any problems. Chek leads them as they exit the elevator and Enti is there to greet his son with a hug while Rhea holds Yenea's hand. The three are escorted to the briefing room where they are met by Zeki who is teaching her daughter as well as Filestra's son Lilk with clipboards while they have food on the table. Rhea allows Yenea to join them while they sit at the far end.

"I heard you had trouble on the Citadel. I was worried." Enti says sitting at the head while the others sit next to him, "Did you get what you needed?"

"We did. Brutagus has stayed there and will be arriving in a few days." Rhea informs before leaning in, "How are you feeling?"

Enti whispers, "I'm okay for now but I need to talk to Chek alone. Do mind escorting Zeki and little ones out."

"Sure." She says getting up and walking over to her friend, "Enti needs to speak to Chek." She says and the quarian gets the message and picks up her things. As they walk out the children they head towards the stairs though as kids play, they keep secrets from adults of where they are going. "How's Difan?"

"Busy." Zeki answer and still not happy, "I haven't seen him much. He's always down the lower levels 'talking'." She says though Rhea isn't clear in understanding. "It's nothing."

Rhea puts her arm around her, "Zeki, what's wrong?"

"I think…I think Difan is lying to me. I think he's having an affair." She says while upset, "I think he's been sleeping with one of the 'comfort' women." She accuses though by her tone isn't sure.

Rhea hugs her though even she finds this hard to believe, "Zeki…Have you tried talking to him?"

She shakes her head while keeping close, "No, I'm afraid he might do something. I might try going away…only to the surface and stay in Krieg's place."

"That isn't a good idea, Zeki. Not telling him, taking your daughter away." She says before holding her stomach, "You haven't told him, have you?"

She shakes her head in shame, "What's the point? He doesn't spend enough time with Mehoa, or me so why should I tell him about this?"

"Cause he's the father." She says, "I'll talk to Krieg about setting you up but no promises. I'll see you later." Rhea leaves Zeki's side and heads down one level in order to check on her clinic. When she enters she sees it empty of patients but the kids had decided to play in there. She doesn't feel like telling them to leave and sits at her desk while opening her console and looking at her messages while the three approach her and see what she's doing.

She turns and sees Yenea smiles, "Why are you so happy?"

"Because Dad's coming home." She says catching Rhea's attention, "Mehoa and Lilk told me."

Rhea puts Yenea on her knee, "That is good news. Sorry we couldn't find anything for your dad."

"It's okay." She says before seeing a picture on Rhea's desk, "Who's that?"

Rhea looks at the picture and sees that it's one of her and her mother, "That's my mother."

"Where's my mom?" Yenea asks though the question is delicate.

Rhea breathes in and begins to tell a lie, "Your mom isn't around anymore…she…and your dad…never mind. Go and play or something." She says and sighs when all three of them leave the room.

On the surface of Virmire, the army Krieg had built for himself was only expanding. Quarian wisps from most ships are training as they have from the start only these have guidance from the krogan dispatched to this base. Their forces had quadrupled for the war as both women and men are training with each other and watching them from above is Filestra who was being accompanied by INC. The machine had remained on the planet under Krieg's request and was in charge so to speak as he was Krieg's administrator.

"They're eager. I can say that much. Most of them know how to fight, but not like the troops already fighting." Filestra points out, "Do you think Krieg will be satisfied?"

"Answer: Krieg is not concerned with ability; he is concerned with their loyalty." The machine answers before accompanying her on a walk, "Information: With the krogan aiding the quarians, their progress has doubled however their lack of coordinated experience will be detrimental."

"You don't think they can follow a leader?" asks Filestra.

"Answer: They will follow Krieg under the High Cleric's guidance." it informs, "Query: When you were an Acolyte with the Scythe, was the Emissary your friend?"

Filestra looks at it, "If you mean mentor, I suppose. Me and my brothers were trained by it, or her now. But she was never a friend."

"Query: Why do you accept this position if you know Krieg is responsible for both your brothers death?"

Filestra thinks to herself and knows that the question has huge dose of irony, "I don't know. I suppose it started back on Korlus. The more I learned about Krieg it became clear my brothers' deaths weren't personal. Krinal always sent us on missions like that and we knew it wouldn't last forever. I guess after meeting both you and Rhea on Omega I had put it behind me. Then…then I had Lilk…I think he's trying to apologise." She theorises, "What do you think?"

"Affirmative." Is the only world that comes from the machine as it enters Krieg's office.

A pair of eyes opens to a black ceiling and the feeling of liquid on his skin. Norim had been transported by Juna into the room where Yox had been guinea pig to Krinal's experiment. The drell couldn't move as tubes were attached to his skin and inside them are needles ready to pump liquid through. While the drones continue their duties Sedath watches on the other side of the glass and see that things are beginning to change for the worse. He thinks back to when the Emissary struck him down and knows this was the first time she had ever done this to him.

She herself enters the room and crosses her arms before looking at salarian and wanting to know the progress that's been made. Sedath says nothing and presses the keypad next to him and begins the procedure. The drones close the pod and the needles penetrate Norim's skin while beginning to eject the liquid Yox was exposed to. The liquid begins to changes the drell natural green skin tone darker and darker until the green is only faint under the heavy grey.

Krinal turns to Sedath, "What's happened to his skin? I thought it was meant turn him invisible."

Sedath answers, "It's not ready yet. The formula is poisoning him because it's impure. The desired affect won't be ready for a while. Give my more time." he says before hearing the sound of flat-lining.

Krinal turns to him, "It better work, Sedath. And went it is ready and you're confident, try it on yourself and see if works." She says before walking to the door, "I didn't think this would be a problem on living creatures. Sintarrio and Juna seem perfect." She remarks before leaving.

"Sintarrio and Juna were dead and had no skin." He says before shutting down the operation.

A shuttle enters Virmire's atmosphere and heads for the pair of islands where not long ago a battle had taken place. Work was still being don't here as krogan and quarians work together to rebuild the community while the shuttle lands on top of the base and exiting is Krieg, Ecroy and Likosh who have travelled here to see the progress and have a much needed break. They walk to the elevator and wait while thinking to themselves about the success of their attack but still they need time to recuperate.

Krieg exits into the hallway leading down to the foyer and are greeted by INC who has been waiting for them. "Greeting: It is good seeing you, Kireg. And you too, Ecroy."

Krieg nods, "Thanks, INC. Where's my daughter? I want to see her."

"Answer: She is with the other children and their mothers. They're playing outside." It informs.

"Thanks." He says before looking to Ecroy, "I'm going to check on them."

"We'll go and see how everyone is holding up." Ecroy states leading Likosh.

Krieg heads across the balcony and while walking looks at the new recruits below and sees them training but as he is nearing the stairs he stops as he breathes in and begins to wipe his clothes of anything. He nerves were not for his daughter but the one taking care of her and he walks up the steps and outside into the forest. The terrain had more life than usual as there were many krogan and quarians on the island now. As he looks around he sees an opening in the forest and the sounds of children as Krieg enters curious of what he will see.

He sees that Yenea is playing with both Mehoa and Lilk and smiles to see his child once again. He leans against a tree and thinks to himself proudly that he has provided his offspring with a childhood he was denied but his trail of thought changing when his daughter sees him and runs up. He opens his arms and picks her up and kisses her on the forehead.

Krieg speaks, "How have you been, Gremlin?"

Yena laughs when he start tickles her nose, "Dad!"

"Where's your Aunt Rhea?" he asks as she points over to a bench where she was sitting with both Zeki and Filestra. He approaches and as they do the asari smiles and is happy to see him, "Hey, you been looking after my number one girl?"

Rhea smiles, "Of course. How have you been?"

"Better." He says before looking at Yenea, "But I'm back." He looks to the other two, "Ladies." And they acknowledge him.

Filestra is first to speak, "Zeki. I'm going to take Lilk to get some dinner, does Mehoa and yourself want to join us?" she asks though implying something else.

"Sure. I'll see you later, Rhea." She says before escorting the turian and their children towards the newly rebuilt watchtower.

Krieg drops down Yenea, "Go on." he says Yenea continues what she was doing before he arrived as he sits down, "Has she been okay?"

"She's been fine." Rhea says though doesn't mention the Citadel, "She eats a lot surprisingly."

"Well she's always running around." Krieg says before looking to her, "She seems to have taken a liking to you."

"Well, she's a good kid." Rhea says before rubbing her knees and becoming more nervous, "I've been thinking these past few months…about us…and her."

"What's there to think about?" Krieg asks though sees something is wrong, "What is it?"

Rhea sighs, "She saw a picture of my mother and asked about hers. I told her she wasn't around." She says though is guilty about it. Krieg puts his arm around her, "Not here, Krieg…in front of her."

"Why not?" he asks and retracts his previous action, "Do I embarrass you?"

Rhea looks to him insulted, "No…It's just, she's too young to understand that's all. Later, when she's in bed." She says before looking ahead awkwardly and watching his child play. Krieg does the same though he glances towards her before exhaling heavily.

Ecroy sits in the lounge area and is thinking to himself about the conflict they are in. He can't help but feels pity for what the enemy have done to their society. He thinks about his own and theirs and compares them to how they have evolved. The krogan who exiled themselves have had centuries to build a stable and trustful way of living and had to change their very ideals and structure in order to pursue it while their enemy, the Scythe, have regressed from asari ideas of understanding and entered a stage of domination.

To him both the High Lords and the Duchess were equals but under different circumstance. The majority of people respected his leaders while he has no idea of what those under the single asari think of her. He puts his ryncol down and leans back while entering the room are both Likosh and Brutagus, the latter had since returned from the Citadel.

Likosh looks at his superior and see he's already started, "Do you mind?" he asks and is handed the bottle while Brutagus opens a bottle of his race's version of beer and takes a sip, "I was just telling Brutagus about Krieg's little stunt."

Ecroy looks at the turian, "What did he tell you?"

Brutagus takes a sip of his drink, "Only he pulled chunk of the earth out of the ground or something." He says laughing, "He said he collapsed after."

"He was collapsing beforehand." Ecroy says before seeing Krieg at the doorway and smiles, "Drink?"

The krogan holds his hand out and the grey alien sits down taking a sip of the ryncol. Though his tolerance was high, the stuff was strong and coughs a little before leaning back. "How's the camp?"

Brutagus answers, "Well, according to Filestra…its going well."

Ecroy leans forward, "Here, Brutagus. Can I ask you an honest question?" he gets a nod from the turian, "Would you fuck Filestra? Being a turian."

Brutagus looks at Krieg lighting a cigar and knows that Ecroy has had a lot since he's been here, "I don't know, she's half my age?"

The krogan leans forward though Krieg helps him balance, "Okay, okay…what if…you were…her age?" he asks while laughing.

Arakon is within the medical clinic and looking at both the data Tinun has giving him on Yox as well as the data from Yenea and Krieg while Rhea sits on a chair within his office. She feels uncomfortable with sneaking behind Krieg's back but is only thinking of his child's welfare. The salarian shuts his console and thinks himself while Rhea sits impatiently.

"So it's true? Yenea could be in trouble." He says before standing up and looking out the window, "Krieg was always apprehensive about Yenea's physicals. He never gave much to work with. I guess he assumed she was healthy."

Rhea stands and joins him while keeping her voice down, "Doctor Solus believes if she shows biotics naturally she'll gain the mutated gene."

Arakon sighs before looking at her, "There may be another way?"

Rhea looks at him with suspicion, "What are you talking about?"

Arakon brings her closer, "Krieg has never given me a blood sample and when the battle occurred it never occurred to me to get one. If I give a syringe, can you get me a vial of his blood?" his query has Rhea on edge and she feels she is digging a deeper hole, "If you can get me that, I could create a virus strain that gives Yenea the mutation. It could be used as a backup if the worse comes to the worst."

"I can do that to him." Rhea whisper, "He won't let me anyway."

Arakon sighs and reaches for a cabinet and takes out a syringe and puts it on the desk, "It's your call, Rhea. But you know that we're not looking out for our interests." He says before leaving for his quarters.

Rhea turns and looks at the syringe and thinks whether or not to use it. As she approaches the tool she takes a hold of it in her right hand and thinks about the long-term consequence of her deceit while knowing that in long term it may save her lover's child. Her perception is taken away from it when Zeki entering the doorway and leans against it, coughing to get her attention.

Rhea smiles and puts the syringe away, "Sorry, I was just thinking about some things. What's up?"

Zeki sighs, "I was about to get Krieg to put Yenea into bed but I couldn't go near him, not in that state and the subject matter."

Rhea looks at her in confusion, "He's drunk, with who?"

"Brutagus, Ecroy and his krogan friend. According to INC they've been drink all afternoon. Can you put Yenea to bed for him?" she asks before escorting her out, "I wouldn't ask you otherwise but she's more comfortable with you."

Rhea nods and inhales, "Okay, I'll do it. I didn't think I'd be doing his job while he was here let alone away."

Zeki puts an arm around her shoulder, "Now you know how I feel." She jokes before heading to the elevator.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"So you and Krieg, huh?" Joker says sitting on the other side of the table from Rhea, "You actually became a couple after nearly nine years?"

"I guess we did." Rhea says taking a sip of her drink, "It wasn't what I imagined it be either."

Joker sips the coffee he's made and thinks about her situation, "So were embarrassed being around him?"

Rhea looks up to him insulted, "No. It was just that his daughter was a factor back then. Her 'mother' still came into the equation. Krieg had the idea that I could fill the niche but even I couldn't fill that spot. Sick isn't it? We were finally a couple only this became complicated within months."

"Did you love him?" Joker wonders though doesn't get an answer, "Because if you did, sometimes that's all that matters. Even I know that."

Rhea smiles at this explanation and nods, "Yes. When I was with him, I didn't think I would have to go behind his back. I knew something he ought to have known, but I couldn't tell him."…

**23/02/2165- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Rhea is within Yenea's room and is currently following through with Zeki's request and putting the little alien to sleep. Her room was spacious and her father had spoiled her but only because he didn't know any better than any other parent. Rhea puts the covers over her as she turns to face the window where she can see the ocean but before Rhea says goodnight she has better look at the room.

The room had a light blue colour though the shelves are silver and as Rhea looks across one shelf, she sees that his daughter has acquired more of her father's taste. Models of ships had been placed on the shelves as well as action figures of aliens but untouched as she liked them. She had one for every race and Yenea sits up and watches Rhea looking at them.

"Dad bought me those so I could learn who aliens are." She says before looking to the middle of the shelf, "My favourite is the Yahg, he looks scary."

Rhea smiles and looks at her, "I bet they are in real life." She then looks at the poster next to it which was of a cartoon she liked, "What's this?"

"That's from my favourite show. Me and Dad used to watch it until he began going away." Yenea looks to Rhea, "Rhea? Is Daddy sad?"

Rhea looks at her and sits on the bed, "No, why should he be?"

"He looked sad earlier, when he came back. I wish we could have bought him something on the Citadel." The little girl admits before lying down.

"Well make up to him. Good night, Yenea." She says before kissing her on the forehead and exits the room but leaving a nightlight on for her.

Yenea's father however was drunk from the ryncol he's been drinking. He, Ecroy, Likosh and Brutagus had been drinking for a long time and talking vulgar despite the fact the door was open to the lounge and people walked past periodically. They are laughing at something one of the krogan has said while they continue drinking but unlike Krieg and Brutagus, the two krogan are drinking three times the amount due to their natural limits. Filestra can hear them while waiting down the hallway for Rhea as the asari exits the elevator and joins her why hearing the sounds of male fraternity.

"How long have they been like this?" Rhea asks.

"Hours. I've had to direct everyone walking down there to turn around." She says before looking towards the doorway, "They've talked about everything, from pistols to pussy."

Inside, Krieg leans back on the couch and starts a new topic, "So Ecroy…do you have a kid?"

Ecroy leans to the side a little, "Me? No, haven't even got a female to have one with."

"I do!" Brutagus shouts, "I have a daughter. I met her mother when I was investigating your better-half." He reveals and referring to Santi.

"Really?" Krieg smiles though his vision is blurred, "Do you see her?"

Brutagus thinks to what he actually did which was give Santi his earning instead of seeing it through, "No. I didn't think there was much point…due to…due to my age and her being an asari."

"You should. Having a daughter is great…" Krieg says taking another sip, "…I love my daughter."

Brutagus smiles and nods before touching glasses, "To daughters!"

"Krieg?" Rhea says from the doorway, "Come on, time for bed."

Ecroy laughs, "Better take those order, General." And gets a laugh from all of them, "Hey, Rhea. Join us for a drink."

"No, thanks Ecroy. I've seen the aftermath of your drinking." She informs and only causes further laughter. "Everyone get to bed. The nightshift is coming on and they don't want four drunken fucks lying in the hallway."

"This is my fucking house! Huh!" Krieg says though tries to stand.

Rhea helps Krieg as he stumbles into the hallway but turns to Brutagus, "Hey, Filestra's going to help you to bed."

"Let's hope she does more than that!" Likosh shouts and again raises the laughter sounds.

Rhea shakes her head in embarrassment before holding Krieg under his arm and walking past Filestra, "Get him out quickly." She says before walking down the hallway and towards the path to his room.

Sedath sits in his office aboard the Zenith and looks at his research on the formula that was used on Norim and has since found the solution in order to make it work. The salarian looks at the console stressfully at his current situation and knows that things have changed since Krinal took on a more organic form. He types into his console and sends the message to the Emissary herself though his current disposition is that of distrust. When she was a machine her decisions were more rational but as she chose Yox and then Norim for her experiments he is beginning to doubt her.

He looks up to the doors opening and entering the room coincidently are both Juna and Jotan, two of Krinal's most loyal. The salarian stands, "Can I help you?" he asks before seeing the batarian holding a pistol, "I guess it was inevitable. I just didn't think it would end like this." Jotan fires the pistol and exiting the weapon is a dart and not a bullet of heat like Sedath expected as he falls back on his chair and before he can think closes his eyes.

"Who says its ending?" Jotan says before letting a pair of drones enter the room and remove his body. The batarian turns to Juna, "Are you sure she wants Sedath for this? He's an office-man, administrator, not a fighter."

Juna leans against the doorway, "She doesn't want for that. The Emissary has long-term plans in mind, and she needs Sedath for them. Despite his nature as a business-fuck, he's the most valuable of us. She tested it on Norim so he didn't die in his place. She gives him more credit than I do. He's one of few who doesn't let her down."

"I know. That's why I'm concerned. 'She' has changed; I used to like her more when she was a tin-can. How did you end up here, apart from the dead part?" Jotan asks interested.

"Well, Sintarrio. I thought it was made clear about him and me?" she says but gets no answer back, "I love him, and he loves me. He didn't want me to die and I never gave up on him. Krinal brought us together again and I owe her loyalty for it." She says though not with regret, "You?"

"SIU, relieved from duty to mercenary work. I had a family but they hate me for some reason I forgot and ended up killing an Acolyte so Krinal offered his place. There were four of us who worked well together. Shanol was the quiet-type and hated Aqualas with the feeling mutual but they worked well together. Then there was Bylok who married a daughter of the Duchess. Even someone that high up didn't deserve that type of death, and Bylok suffered for it. Well, you know what happened." Jotan reveals and informs while seeing the salarian's body being carried down the hallway of the ship.

Juna looks as well, "Well, I know this. Since I've been in Krinal's company, her company has been thinned by Krieg. I'll see you later." She says before leaving the batarian's side.

Rhea's face is dissatisfied as she looks up her lover and his current state. Krieg has been put into his bed within his workshop away from his daughter who didn't need to see him like this. He lies on the bed with his shirt off and is looking at Rhea as she holds a wet cloth and wipes his mouth of the alcohol he spilt on himself. Krieg however has other ideas as he constantly rubes Rhea's leg though asari isn't in mood but allows him to continue. She looks at his chest and sees the faint bruises from fighting but still he isn't exactly reacting normally and his eyes remain half-closed.

Rhea sighs, "You embarrassed me tonight, Krieg. In front of my friends."

Krieg snarls while sitting up, "So it's true…I embarrass you! You hurt me Rhea." He begins chuckling, "Do I embarrass you now?"

Rhea sighs again and pushes him back on his back, "Get some sleep, Krieg. You had a lot of ryncol despite it being undrinkable to none-krogan."

"I'm a none-krogan, none-krogan." Krieg says though the statement is confusing even to him. He sits up again and caresses Rhea's cheek, "How about we go to sleep?"

"You mean fuck?" she says not impressed, "Not like this."

"Anything then?" he asks though gets no response, "How about a hand?" Rhea looks at him and sees that he is serious but as he continues it only gets worse, "Come on, like the way Delphine used to do it. Only…I wished it was you who doing it."

Rhea slaps Krieg across the face insulted and repeats this action twice more. The grey alien lies back on his bed and the hits across the face are not felt due to the alcohol but nonetheless is surprised when he feels Rhea reaching into his pants.

As she gives him his wish she gets in close enough to whisper, "If I do this, you'll go to sleep?" She tries to be as fast as she can though after he releases himself he closes his eyes and leaves the asari to stand up and walk into his bathroom. She washes her hands in the sink and looks in mirror ashamed not of herself but Krieg who now is snoring. "Fuck this."

She reaches in her pocket and takes out the syringe as well as a few tubes in order to do what she needs to do. She sits next to a sleeping Krieg and begins to wipe his elbow joint. A few seconds later she inserts the syringe into his hard skin and takes a sample of his black blood and when she is done decides to take some skin samples. Krieg's physiology requires him to peal a layer of skin when it dies like a reptile so she doesn't have problem taking some. While she does this she knows that consequences of her actions though with no intention of betraying him. She takes a plastic bag and places the sample in it before standing up and walking out in order to get away from him.

The Zenith also shows a sign of betrayal as Sedath lies in the pod ready for the procedure that Norim had taken before him. The salarian was attached to the pipes and the pod is closed so there is no turning back for him. Krinal waits on the other side of the glass impatiently as despite wanting the best for her most useful Acolyte, her expression shows only worry for him and sense of concern she hasn't show for anyone else. She presses the keypad herself and the pipes begin to pump the compound within the physic of the salarian. She watches his vital signs on the monitors while behind her both Juna and Jotan watch not knowing what to think. Juna especially was intrigued by this as she must have been subject to similar treatment during the days she was dead.

Krinal sighs and silently indicates Juna to come forward, "I want you to bring all the Criminal and Pirate leaders together."

"Yes, Emissary. For what purpose?" she asks before Krinal grabs her but the throat.

"None of your fucking business, Acolyte." And let's go before looking towards Sedath. She sees the salarian's skin tone had changed into a dark grey and as his eyes open briefly, the iris had diluted. From Sedath's point of view his eyes didn't work anymore and only sees blurring objects before closing them again.

The next day in Arakon's office, he is typing in his console on what he has researched while currently waiting for the private channel between him and Tinun Solus to open. Like Rhea he is also risking the wrath of Krieg as he works though unlike the asari bares no sense of personal attachment to him. Waiting impatiently he sees gets up and looks out the window until the sound of the connection is confirmed and channel opens immediately to his colleague.

"Doctor Taldra? It's nice to hear from you again." Tinun says on the other line.

Araokn smiles, "You too, Doctor Solus. Did Doctor T'Anya give you what you need?"

"She did and more with this krogan in custody." His colleague states now having Yox in his care, "You've really outdone yourself this time. The DNA samples of the child are unorthodox indeed."

"Well I couldn't think of anyone better to give them too. You know she is the daughter of K-Thousand?" Arakon asks and knowing of the infamous project.

"I thought as much. Nemus' data proved useful as well. The Council know nothing about this, and they shouldn't. K-Thousand was delicate enough and the team was killed in the process. Did my confirmation help you in anyway?"

"With samples of the father's DNA, I may be able to create a virus strain that will save the child. At the same time I theorise the mutated gene permits other qualities beyond saving her." He states though is elusive.

"Please explain." Tinun asks with interest in the salarian's research.

"I was given a report that the father's biotic power has increased to alarming limits. According to a drunken conversation I overheard he collapse the ground with no form of weapon, just his power. I believe as his biotics increase, his mutation does but also other areas. I managed to give him a brain-scan during a time he was in my clinic when I saw some anomalies." He states not being completely honest.

"It's not unheard of for natural biotics. I also have another piece of information that may be of interest." Tinun makes clear.

"Well if it's relevant, I'd like to hear it." Arakon sits down to receive addition information.

"Brutagus may have mentioned a krogan we captured baring a strange compound encasing the hardened areas of a krogan in general. The compound we recovered from his body, despite it being difficult isn't actually a compound so to speak. It liquid and has metallic elements but also has organic qualities." The data of Yox's sample are sent through the private channel.

"Wait." Arakon says immediately and looks at the elements used in the compound, "This looks familiar."

"The strand is not the same but very alike. This compound is worth keeping for further research. Are you able to send me data on the father?" Tinun asks.

"I think so." He says and exchanges a copy with him almost immediately.

A silence is heard while Tinun looks at the data, "Good. I suggest you focus on this virus strain and I focus on this research. Good day, Doctor Taldra."

"And you Doctor Solus. By the way, how's that nephew you talked about?" he asks smiling about the last time he was mentioned.

"He talks too fast for me to understand." Tinun states and indicating a certain relative.

As Arakon closes the channel he sees the door open and Rhea enter putting a small case on the desk though reluctantly, "So, you got them. Is everything there?"

"Yeah." She says before lighting a cigarette despite Arakon's objections, "How long will this take to develop?"

Arakon looks at the data and the foundation of his formula, "Awhile, Yenea will be safe while she is young but when she starts maturing, that's when we'll need to administer it. It could take years for all I know."

Rhea sighs in distress and looks towards the ocean and inhaling the smoke, "Well, try to get it done as soon as possible. Krieg doesn't know I've taken them so keep them hidden from him as well." She turns and leans on the desk, "And don't tell me where you've hidden them, either. I've done my part."

Arakon puts his hands up, "Fine. Leave the rest to me."

Rhea walks out of the room and down the hallway where she sees that Krieg was looking around. The grey alien was still wearing his clothes from the night before though not very well as Rhea approaches him. The asari leans against the wall and doesn't react when she sees him look at her. Krieg knows he is in the wrong and decides not to say anything but instead scratches his inner elbow. When he does this, Rhea looks but not enough to give a suspicion away as she quickly ignores Krieg and heads for the elevator. When entering she closes the door quickly and leans against the wall as she couldn't even look at her lover or friend or what she thought he was.

When she exits she is quick to join both Zeki and Filestra in what they have done many times over which is take the children out to play while the sun is still in the sky. They pass the dozen of soldier training before walking up the steps and as the sun shines on them, the children leave to their own devices and they head to spot where they love to talk and play. The difference this time is that Rhea has a secret that she fears endangers her and the opposition is Krieg, worse than Krinal, worse than any enemy she has come across in her life.


	47. The Negotiation

**Chapter XLVII: The Negotiation**

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Rhea and Joker sit opposite each other while Rhea continues to tell her tale. The asari has gained Joker's approval since the story's beginnings only a few days ago. The human takes a sip of his coffee and stands to put the cup into the sink though he sits back down and waits patiently while Rhea stubs out another cigarette. By now they were not the only ones getting up as Zeki exits her room strapping one of her belts across the suit that keeps her from catching anything hazardous to her health.

Ecroy also exits and has his full armour on minus the arm, "Hey, where did I put my arm?" he looks at Rhea who points to the table and krogan takes the arm and reattaches it, "How long have you two been up?"

"A while." Rhea informs. "How was your sleep?"

"Good. Haven't had one like that since we got here." He answers before taking the ryncol bottle and drinking it heavily, "Any word from the outside?"

"None. I think we're safe for now." Rhea says before looking to Joker, "Joker, have any regrets?"

"I don't quite follow." Joker says sipping his coffee.

"Well, I've told a lot since we've been here and like you I've had my share of enemies and threats and still do. Do you ever feel like what you're doing is all for nothing?" Rhea asks as Zeki sits down to listen.

"I can't say that I do. I've worked to get into this position and I have had a good leader to take orders from. I've seen things that are unimaginable. I like being me." he says smiling. "What about you?"

Rhea thinks back to when everything began to become heated to the point it went supernova, "I have a regret."…

**18/10/2165- Mavigon, Han System, Gemini Sigma**

On the cliff face of the highest mountain on the surface of the dark and snowy planet, a few dots can be seen scaling it. A small group had come for one intention in mind as they continue climbing with simple apparatus that fits their needs. Krieg is leading a small task force with All-Feather. The two are finding a key location that can change the tides of the war and avoid the death of more krogan and quarian alike. The grey alien is in full armour due to the atmosphere and uses knifes given by the wispe to dig into the cliff-face and climb. The total number is small with them is only twenty and all heading towards a small vent built into this side of the rock and ice.

All-Feather is scouting ahead as he does. He sees the small but important passage as he takes out his pistol and fires a wire towards the rock above and swings to it. He then takes out a second instrument which has the form of a bomb but the explosion would be too loud and would give away their position let alone cause instability to the ice. When All-Feather presses the charge he swings back to his original position and waves to Krieg and the other to make way below. The charge detonates and lets off an acid that begins melting the door. The liquid chews through metal and drips down below but when an adequate amount has been spread, All-Feather swings back and balances against it. He uses his sabre to carve the acidic pieces off and enters the vent with the others follow not long after.

Inside the base, the Scythe are few and for good reason as this was secret locationeven to the most knowledgeable. The structure had elements of Aite's base and Illium's with multiple floors and spherical rooms. The room where Krieg is aiming for happened to inhabit two Scythe officers who he has encountered in his travels but the situation would even leave a follower confused. Gizenta is the commanding officer of this base and is currently standing within her office and main headquarters while strapped to a chair in the middle was Chavai.

The lower-ranked officer is being subjected to interrogation for some unknown purpose as the Commander punches her twice in the face, "Now, Former-Captain Chavai. You'll tell me where General Dahria is hiding."

Chavai breaths heavily, "I don't know. You can't do this!"

"I have orders from the Duchess herself to stop this little insurrection your commanding officer has created." She says taking knife to her throat and holding there, "I know you had contact with the Acolyte Delphine, you fed her information."

"She fed me information."

"Liar!" She's punches her again but stops with the blue light flashes above, "Fuck, he's here."

A level down and she was wright as Krieg and the other wisps are jumping out of the shafts and attacking the Scythe troops. Because of the ambush, the quarians make quick work at the half-armoured asari while Krieg focuses on getting to the upper level with All-Feather. The quarians keep the bulk of the forces busy while Krieg pulls out his spear and All-Feather his sabre ready to fight close range.

The grey alien strikes first impaling an asari before twisting and slashing the one behind and going down to one knee. All-Feather steps on Krieg's back and takes on the next three and in three waves of his blade, they all fall before he sheaves it. He turns and nods to his General before getting a pat on the back and is led to the elevator shaft. The pair takes their pistols out and fire up and retract them, sending them up to the level they need but the only obstacle is the door. Krieg nods and All-Feather lodges his blade in the central opening and waits.

The doors open and Gizenta turns being only person capable but before she can fire her pistol, Krieg throws a shockwave. Knocking both her and Chavai in the air Krieg jumps into the room and immediately charges for her. Gizenta throws him with her biotics and leaps towards him with the knife. When she lands on top of him she immediately stabs the grey alien in the right shoulder and his pain can be heard through his helmet.

She leans in, "Does that hurt, Krieg?" she twists the blade, "I bet it does."

Krieg knows he is on the ropes and resorts to dirty tactics as he reaches his helmet and quickly ejects it off his armour, exposing his face. He lifts his mouth onto her cheek and bites hard causing her to scream. She gets up holding her face while Krieg kicks her in the stomach. "I wasn't going to let get away this time." he says pulling out the knife and throwing at her.

The knife enters her leg and she screams but before Krieg can take his spear and finish her, All-Feather stops him and reminds him of the mission. Instead he turns the weapon and hits her head with blunt end, knocking her unconscious. All-Feather points to the other asari and Krieg walks over and turns to her. Recognising the face and she to him he points his spearhead towards the shackles she was still attached to and breaks them.

Chavai stands though All-Feather helps her, "Thanks…Krieg." she says though nervous about his current manner. "Where am I?"

"You're on Mavigon in the Gemini Sigma Cluster. I came here looking for Gizenta and hopefully for some secrets to defeat the Duchess." He reveals before scanning the injuries on her face, "Did she do this?"

Chavai nods, "I'm not first but it looks like I'll be last. Things have changed. I need to speak with your leaders."

"You want to speak to your enemies? You've betrayed the Duchess?" Krieg wonders but open to discussion.

"She's betrayed us. General Dahria has seen something worse than any enemy. She found information on things called the reapers. They were hidden even to the Military Leaders."

"Scythe?" he asks and she nods, "I see. So I take it you're not in favour of your employer?"

Chavai looks away in both shame and stupidity, "We worshipped her as a goddess and it was a lie. General Dahria questioned the Duchess and all those below her and in response she was ordered to be detained for blasphemy. They didn't want her knowing about Scythe's nature or its location I think but I was too late. Dharia sent the data to all her commanders just to prove see wasn't lying."

"You have Scythe's location?" Krieg asks hoping for answers.

She nods, "She knows the exact location but the proof of its true form. She said it was in a cluster near the Scythe Palace itself. They've been protecting it for millennia."

"When did this happen?" Krieg asks hoping for more.

"About six weeks ago." she reveals. "You may have noticed instant surrenders."

"We did. Four out of six Scythe bases attacked recently ordered surrendered to Battlemaster General Agon. Why is Gizenta still a bitch if this is so?" he wonders looking at her body.

"Because she is a part of the inner circle and Dahria believes she 'indoctrinated or something'. She's one of the 'favoured'. All the noble families are exposed but not to its nature. Dahria has proof of what they've been exposed to but they don't believe her."

"Then why do you believe your general over your leader?" he wonders though knows the facts are correct.

"Delphine was the one who gave clues years ago. Dahria had suspicions about the Scythe's inner workings so ordered me and few other agents to discover some secrets. Delphine was a source but she's dead now." she admits. "I wasn't sure until Dahria managed to decipher the encryptions of data discovered on Aite."

"Are you able to bring General Dahria to my base? Is it possible that we're now on the same side?"

"Only if a ceasefire is given. Most of us are lower-castes and prefer a less destructive solution. I think we agree that our leader isn't in control of her actions but doesn't even realise it." She says before watching Krieg in deep thought and looking towards Gizenta's body.

He sees a pair of his troops enter via elevator and points to Gizenta, "Take her and all the remaining prisoners to ship. Also, inform the Battlemaster General to ceasefire on the enemy in all regions."

Days pass though the climate stays the same on Virmire as outside Krieg home on the beach Rhea sits looking out to see while Yenea is playing by herself. Inside looking down on them is Brutagus who is waiting inside Arakon's office for the salarian to return with his results from a phsycial. He sits down and rubs his chin impatiently while the salarian enters and sits down almost immediately and he too is nervous about it the subject. The salarian takes a sip of his drink before sighing loudly and shakes his head to Brutagus and turian leans back in disappointment while standing up and leaning forward.

"So it's positive then?" he gets a nod, "Do you know how long it will take to spread?"

"It's in its early stages as of now but each year, the disease will become more aggressive." He says before standing, "I'm really sorry, Oristar. I…I don't what else to say?"

Brutagus smiles weakly, "No need to say anything. Thanks." he says before walking out.

Arakon sighs again before opening the project he was working on and has made progress with. The virus strain which could save Yenea's life is only in its preliminary stages but nonetheless he is doing better than expected. He stands and walks to the window in order to get a look at the child and the one taking care of her. Yenea stands up and is helping the asari on her feet though she is acting a little. They walk along the beach together Rhea thinks of tranquillity of the place Krieg picked for his daughter and realises why he was gone so long.

"Rhea." The asari looks down to the child, "Are you mad with my Dad?"

Rhea smiles at the question, "Now why would you think that?"

"Because when you and him are here you don't look happy." She says and notices the recent tension between the couple without knowing they are a couple.

Rhea sighs as she crouches down to Yenea's eye-line, "Yenea…me and your dad are old friends, but sometimes old friend have bad times. Your dad upset me and it upset him as well." She sees Yenea is looking away embarrassed and concerned, "Why are you worried?"

"He really likes you." She says, "Mehoa told me she saw you kissing him."

"Oh, did she?" Rhea responds as she knows once again she is in a corner and didn't want this happen, "Well, I tell you about when you're older, but for now I think that's grown-up talk. Okay? Hey, look what got for your dad." She reaches into her back pocket pulls out a small necklace with spearhead on it in very same design as Krieg's weapon, "It's pretty isn't it?"

"He'd like it." She says smiling.

"Well, we'll give him when comes back later. You know, I've known your father for ten years now?" She informs directing her back towards the walkway up the cliff so they can join the others. Before they can reach it however the sound of ships arriving near the island gets Rhea nervous and confused when both Scythe and Krogan flying together in unison with frigates landing in open spaces on both islands.

By the time Rhea and Yenea have reached the inside of the base they see Krieg within the foyer with Agon, Ecroy and members of the Scythe Military. This image is confusing to all who walk past but the krogan guard on watch indicates something is happening right now. Ecroy sees Rhea and approaches her while picking up Yenea and walking with them. The child liked the fact she could climb on the krogan's hump and he didn't mind but Ecory was focused on keeping Rhea away from what she thinks is the enemy. When they reach the elevator they see Brutagus exit and he too has just gotten word of what's happening.

"Do you two mind telling me why our enemy is inside the building?" Rhea says looking back from where they came.

Ecroy answers, "It turns out that the string of surrenders served purpose. The Scythe has splintered between the high power and military after Krinal exposed the information we have to them."

"But that would weaken her, wouldn't it?" Brutagus says confused of why the Emissary would make such a move.

"They don't know everything but when the questions were asked the response questioned their loyalty. They're going to be briefed." Ecroy replies. "I was confused as well but after you hear what they have, we'll be winning this war and then we can strike Krinal herself."

"It makes no sense but Krieg must have a plan." Rhea says speaking highly of her friend.

"He does. We have to wait a few days for the High Lords to come here as well as the Clergy of Wisps and negotiate a peace treaty." Ecroy reveals before letting Yenea drop on the ground, "As of now, we're relieved."

"Sounds like good news. We'll have to see how it plays out but I'm with Rhea on this one." Brutagus says before looking to the asari. "Yenea needs to be safe from this. I'll send a shuttle up to the Malal. Filestra will probably do the same when told."

"Okay." she says before crouching to Yenea again. "How about that? You want to play on the big ship." She touches Yenea nose and she nods. She takes her hand and looks to the other two, "Tell Krieg, I'll speak to him later."

Within the briefing room Agon sits on one side of the table and Dahria on the other. The two leaders of the biggest armies sit in-between with Krieg in middle and down from them are their battlemasters and commanders, those who refuse to follow the Duchess and her inner circle like Gizenta who as they get ready to speak is being escorted to the holding cells. Krieg puts his pistol on the table and the krogan to the same with their firearms as sign that they won't attack. Dahria nods and the Scythe asari do the same as well.

Krieg looks to the doorway as INC enters, "Okay we can start. Now this is just a preliminary discussion about information we both have…not a negotiation."

"We understand." Dahria says and looking to her asari, "We would like to offer apologies for the attack here that made you decide to enter this war. Gizenta wasn't fully honest about the attack we found even though I was giving the orders to do so. The delicacy of matter of your daughter wasn't full knowledge." She says looking to Krieg.

Krieg leans back, "Nevertheless, you did threaten me, my daughter and innocent civilians. A friend of mine died protecting others from your troops."

"We also don't agree with that type of slaughter…well us soldiers." Dahria also claims.

"Soldiers?" Agon remarks. "What about your slaves? We've transported thousands of asari to our world in order to treat them and offer them a new life."

Dahria is taken aback though she smiles, "You've done that?" she gets a nod from the battlemaster, "Then may the true Goddess smile on your leaders…myself and my associates are of that caste. Those like Gizenta and connected in the inner workings of the Scythe, more religious than us were and given luxury while many worked for they called the good of all asari. With each duchess, each regime changed but they knew that what they called the 'lower caste' would always make the bulk of their armed forces. I myself am the first Lower Cast General, picked by the Duchess herself."

"Yet now she has betrayed you?" Agon says before talking for the other krogan, "This ceasefire is temporary because a Captain Chavai informed us. I must ask now, are you willing to fight against your leader after so many years?"

Dahria looks to her asari in confidence, "We are, but we will have to discuss some of this with your leaders. However we might want to discuss this information the Emissary gave us and the link it may have to certain topics."

"Scythe's location is important to me personally, you know this?" Krieg says before looking to Dahria. "I think it's wise you tell us and my friend here will fill the gaps." he states as INC flies onto the table and brings a map of the galaxy up ready to customise it.

Dahria stands and looks towards the Attican Traverse and the Terminus boarder. "Okay. Most Scythe bases are located here. However the Emissary never knew where the Duchess' headquarters were. The Palace is here but is only accessible through a Relay hidden in Caleston Rift. According to our history's records, Scythe was found here posing as Athame herself. The system which is known to the protheans as Bliss is a system with a Red Dwarf and two planets one of which houses the Scythe's Palace."

Agon looks at the system, "Is this planet habitable?" he asks noticing the system is well hidden between the Caleston Rift and the Pylos Nebula.

"Yes but the civilisation that that once inhabited it has been obliterated and their colony had been overgrown and submerged. The Palace is here but I believe Scythe is somewhere near it. If Scythe is a machine who can control our organisation, it has to be there." Dahria states almost certain.

Agon turns to Krieg, "We could position our ships in the Caleston Rift and ready an assault."

"No. This calls for quick but careful planning on our part though I must be the one to go." Krieg turns to Dahria, "I'll take your information into account. I need to ask you one more thing. What exactly does the Duchess wish to kill me and not my daughter?"

Dahria looks to her commanders and knows this information is delicate, "A few years ago we blackmailed your friend, Rhea T'Anya, to retrieve some data on Aite. Captain Chavai, the head of the operation looked at the data beforehand but we weren't sure about the experiments they were performing on Aite. From there we connected the dots though slowly."

"We know about those asari in the tanks. They were dangerous experiments and unethical." Agon says before letting her continue.

"Those were maidens who the Duchess believed were dispensable. The Emissary had created certain weapons in the form of organics, her generals, and apparently we had an original plan involving Krieg but when his mutations were apparent the project was abandoned and they decided to use a mixture of his un-mutated DNA and a compound developed by the Emissary." she reveals.

"What was the Scythe intending to do with me?" Krieg wonders.

Dahria sighs, "I'm not sure if they wanted you or just the technology you came with. The Scythe apparently knew of your original location and Krinal was tasked to retrieve you, though the Emissary would have different plans. It's not unknown that war started for your corpse but the use is beyond me."

"So why now. Why change sides?" Krieg asks.

"Our people are dying for an unknown reason. From that data, we discovered other things as well. Certain references to a machine constructs similar to the ships we use. We now know of the Reapers but not everything. If our society is based upon these machines, then we were doomed from the start. Then I theorised that our leaders may have been indoctrinated and they don't know it. I'm not sure what you have to do with this."

"We'll reconvene with the High Lords and Clergy arrive." Krieg says after taking in explanation but not discovering anything new.

Ecroy is in the doorway and walks past the battlemasters and leans to Krieg's ear, "Brutagus and Rhea organised the shuttle for the children here. Your one is going to Malal for safety."

Krieg responds by smiling and accepting Rhea's judgement while he stands and begins to walk out with both Agon and Dahria beside him, "I wouldn't get comfortable yet, Dahria. Once the treaty has been made we'll make sure something is done to make you and your troops more comfortable."

"I'll order the troops to stay on the ships and not disturb the quarians living here. We are grateful." she says humbly. "I will retire too. It was nice to talk civilised with you both. You really are not like the Duchess makes you out to be." She says before re-joining her entourage.

Agon continues walking with Krieg, "Lord Tovoh is nervous about this, more for the Wisps than them."

Krieg stops in foyer, "Leave Drais to me. When she understands it'll be okay." Krieg then turns around and heads towards the elevator in order to head to his workshop and rest.

Rhea was waiting within his workshop and sits up on the bed while watching the holonet on Krieg's console. The screen was currently talking about the current affairs that have affected the galactic community but to her it now seems irrelevant. She hears the doors open but doesn't react as Krieg takes off his sleeves and begins unstrapping his torso armour. He sits on the bed though faces towards the back of the room and doesn't speak to Rhea while she continues watching the screen.

It could felt in the air that the pair who thought everything was going to be alright were not and Krieg was suffering more than Rhea, who already had relationships that ended poorly. The first that sprouts in her mind is Thalian, who died in the First Contact War and the Second was Tido, killed killing Yentha and holding Yenea hostage. Now she was in relationship plagued by outside interference with the war, him being away and leaving her to look after his child.

Krieg turns around, "Hey. How have you been?"

Rhea doesn't look at him, "Fine. How were you meeting with the Scythe?"

"They're not Scythe anymore**. **They've discovered the truth." He says taking his torso armour off, "What are you watching?"

"Nothing. I sent Yenea up to the Malal, Zeki's going to take care of her and Lilk." She informs though her tone is warming.

"Thank you." He says before turning around again and tilting his head, "Have I pissed you off again?"

"No… I think Yenea knows about me…and you." She says though this wasn't all she is worried about.

"Isn't that a good thing?" he asks before sitting beside her at the head of the bed, "You don't want to take care of her, do you?"

Now Rhea looks at him and hurt, "Of course I do, don't question that. It's just…it's just I get the feeling the more she doesn't know about her mother see begins think I am. I can't be that for her Krieg."

"I wouldn't trust anyone else with her. I'm sorry but I… I don't know. I've asked too much of you Rhea. I didn't think all the years up until we first…you know… I didn't think it'd be like this. I'm sorry for putting my burdens on you Rhea, you don't deserve it." He says looking away.

Rhea takes his hand and makes him look, "At least you're here to share them. They're our burdens." She reaches into her pocket and takes out the necklace she had made for him, "Here. I had this made for you."

Krieg takes it and looks at the spear and smiles thinking about fighting as it is put around his neck, "Thanks. I don't have anything for you but give me some time."

Rhea moves herself onto Krieg's groin and sits on it before kissing him, "I have what I want."

On the Malal above Virmire's orbit, Enti is inside the Briefing Room where he and Chek were going over some recent business. The dreadnaught had since been staying within the system due to them knowing of the unsafe travel of this region but their frigates had to bring in supplies not just for them but the wisps below. Zeki is also in the room and she is tired but Mehoa, Yenea and Lilk are there to keep her spirits alive. Difan enters the room and the tension between him and his wife are at an all-time high due to her suspicion that he is cheating on her with a quarian below the deck.

Difan walks over to his father and brother after passing his hand over Zeki though she doesn't take notice. When he sits down he looks at the other two and is frustrated, "I don't know has gotten into her. She keeps talking to me like shit."

Chek looks over to Zeki, "Well you have been busy. Dad can't do much nowadays."

"Keep your voice down, Chek." Enti says while looking to Zeki and feeling guilty, "Difan, take a few days and help your wife."

"I can't, not with everything that needs to get done." The youngest says before seeing his daughter run up to him, "Hey, little one."

"Hi father. Hi Grandfather and Uncle Chek." Mehoa says before Enti stands and holds his granddaughters hands.

"Come on. Your father and uncle need to talk." He says as he escorts her over to her friends and entertains them.

Difan leans in, "This doing my fucking head in, Chek. I think my wife is pissed off with me since I've been tending to the problem down below."

"Who cares about that? Besides, if father knew he would have a fucking fit, like he hasn't had them already." Chek says and reveals a symptom of Enti's condition.

"Then why don't we tell him who's down there? There's no shame in it. I know it seems odd but." Difan says looking over to Zeki falling asleep, "She's getting suspicious and I fear for what she thinks."

Chek looks over to her with guilt, "I'm sorry about this, Difan. But this is hwy you and I are up here and they are down below. Father cannot know, for best of reasons. Did you hear the news on the surface?"

Difan looks back to him, "I did. The Scythe are here to negotiate peace." He states before standing up and walking with him, "Maybe it's done? I don't know. When I first met Krieg he was pretty adamant on killing them all, now he wants peace. What do you think has changed?"

"It's Rhea that's done it for him." Chek states freely though Difan doesn't understand, "Him and her. I like Rhea but Krieg has grown attached… he's in love."

"And Rhea's not?" Difan asks unsure of the question.

"No, no. I'm sure she is but if I was in love and something big is in my way, wouldn't I want over quickly?" Chek asks before heading back to the bridge.

Rhea straddles Krieg with him sitting against the wall. The two have been able to have some alone time for the past few days and they both haven't wasted it. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him while still letting him enter her but leans back when he is ready to finish off. A few final thrusts and the sound of Krieg's growling cause her to stop. Its sound is menacing but at the same time makes her feel the same though the silence is for the fact she is the same as him. She is quiet but clenches him before falling and she lies onto the bed. Krieg is quick to go on to of her and locks lips with her before getting up and walking to his bathroom. Rhea sits up and watches as he steps in shower and she is quick to follow him inside.

Krieg takes the liquid gel from a dispenser built into the wall and rubs his hand before wiping it on Rhea, cleaning her. "You think we've made up now?"

Rhea turns and kisses him again, "Defiantly." She continues speaking why they wash each other, "What do you think they'll do in the negotiation?"

"Beats me. But I think it's safe to say that we can now focus on Krinal." he answers.

"What has she been up too?" she wonders while being turned around and lets him wash her chest from behind.

"Agon said that the cluster Dahria mentioned seems to exist from his scout ships. Krinal's fleet was seen near the Caleston Rift and closing in. The Duchess has no army, and Krinal has no obstacles." He states.

Rhea looks at in mirror of the wall while Krieg kisses her neck, "Are you afraid?"

Krieg stops and looks at the mirror with her, "Yes. If Scythe is there I don't know what I'll find. If I do go, will you come with me?"

Rhea looks at him in the mirror, "Don't you want to find the answers on your own?"

"I can't do it alone." he says before kissing her neck continuing to wash her.

The briefing room within the base is being used yet again only this time it's much more crowded. On the left side sits Drias, Tovoh and the other High Lords with Agon and the other clerics and battlemasters standing behind them while on the other side is Dahria and her highest ranked officers. Tensions are in the air and they wait for Krieg to enter and when the grey alien does he is accompanied by an entourage of Rhea, INC, Brutagus, Filestra, Ecroy, All-Feather Enti, Chek and Difan. He sits at the head of the table and waits for INC to take its place on it in order to record the conversation.

Krieg sits and they repeat his action, "Good morning. I believe you've introduced yourselves already so can we begin?" he asks and they wait for him to continue, "Okay, my friend here on the table is recording this conversation so that we can come to some sort of agreement. General Dahria, if you would like to go first."

The General speaks, "On behalf of what's broken away from the Duchess' regime. We are willing to reveal all other existing Scythe strongholds in order to release any servants, and clean the rest of them away. However we do have problem in that thousands of asari currently have no homes and are not prepared for society as it is today. We request asylum in the territories of the High Lords in order rebuild."

Tovoh speaks, "That's all good and well, General, but our people know who you are. We have begun and integration programme with recovered lower caste asari but we don't have the facilities for a mass population. You know of the reapers and they don't, yet. We fear this news will cause mass-panic. Also, what is to stop you from starting a war with us once you've gained momentum?"

"That's why we're here, to avoid it. We ask for one piece of one your existing colonies in order to build something for our own." She states.

Tovoh leans back, "If we did give it to you, because you are under our jurisdiction you would to obey our laws. That would include drafting all existing soldiers into our army. The reason why we can do this is because of you similar lifespan… no offence."

Dahria begins talking amongst her officers about this development before answering, "We would only accept if you were willing to promote a member of us to have executive powers as you do. We can't accept anything less."

"And I suppose you believe you should be in charge." Tovoh says.

"No. I'm a General and my political knowledge is limited. We know of one who could lead us but she is currently hiding." She states before the High Lords talk among themselves, "The Duchess has enemies even within the inner circle. One of them is Haneytha, who unlike the Duchess we believe isn't indoctrinated and has currently been in exile for two hundred years. When we have defeated the current ruler, we wish for her to take her place."

"I see. We currently have eight fully developed colonies within our cluster however there is one world in development which we can set aside. Your choice of leader will have to be found and if she accepts to act on your behalf, we can finalise this treaty." Tovoh states looking to the others and agreeing, "Now, we should get to a more pressing matter."

"Wait." Drais says speaking on behalf of the Wisps, "We can't continue fighting if you have decided to fight with the enemy. We joined this war because you attacked us." She says pointing to Dahria

"But I didn't order the attack on you, it was ordered against Krieg**." **Dahria claims though this causes further tension.

Drais stands, "I cannot agree to this." She turns to Krieg, "You can't agree to these terms, my people want justice."

"And they got it. We've been fighting them for months and this will end the fighting." Krieg leans back, "When you said to me that I should the lead your army, I believed you did it in confidence. Now, trust me."

She shakes her head, "No, they killed my people with no reason. If you agree to aid them, my people will leave."

Krieg is given and ultimatum and everyone in room is waiting for an answer, "No. Unlike you I have more important matters than pride. I am not one of you, so I am not bound to your code. But you'll also find that those who I have fought with have shown me loyalty that can only dream of."

"Tread carefully Krieg. If you aid them, you become our enemy." She warns him. She turns to All-Feather and orders him to leave with him. He however says something back and by the Cleric's body language she is offended though the feathered-quarian shouts to Difan so all can hear.

Difan begins to translate though reluctantly, "You order me to leave and yet you stand not thinking about lives lost fighting for your cause. Only it's not your cause, I fight for my brother who spoke with peace and we fight this war to achieve that peace. Just because the Clergy demands retribution, the Clergy does not control the soul of any one, not me either. I fight so that others do not have to, I am a protector of my faith, not an ambassador. I chose to fight by Grey-Groom's side; I will not break that choice, not for you. And every wisp I know will agree me and follow him to end." Drais stands humiliated by what is to her nothing more than a single member of the wider flock as she looks to Krieg before leaving disappointed with the outcome. Her clerics leave as well though the abrupt ending doesn't dampen the negotiations.

General Dahria sighs, "This isn't going affect us, is it?"

Tovoh turns back, "No. The bulk of the forces are ours. Now let's talk about this plan we have."

"Agreed." Krieg says leaning in, "Agon has informed me that the Emissary's forces are nearing this Relay of yours. This puts us in a difficult position. An attack would occur in the Caleston Rift with the pirates currently under Krinal's employ, making the blockade impossible to penetrate."

INC brings up a map of the area, "Information: The relay located near the edges of the cluster. The pirate fleet is present but from the data, the Zenith may have already passed through."

Agon looks at the hologram of the Nebula, "We could risk an attack the draw the forces out and give time for a ship to the enter relay to the other side. But from there you'd be blind."

"We do have maps of the planet if need be but I would agree with your plan. Sending a team into the system and destroy the Scythe. Krinal may give us time by attacking the surface for this team to enter and defeat them." Dahria puts forwards gaining respect from the battlemasters.

"I'm going." Krieg informs having just relinquished his General status, "I have person reasons, so I have to go. Besides, I have a feeling Krinal will not attack us if I'm there."

"I can the team. We happen to have one of Gizenta's frigates on hand from the battle here, courtesy of All-Feather. The ship code may help us." Brutagus states.

Dahria speaks, "If you have a Frigate, maybe taking some of my troops may be considered."

Agon looks to Tovoh, "That's too risky for us not her. I would send some of my troops as well." He looks to Dahria, "Maybe if they were disguised as prisoners along some quarians?"

Tovoh looks to Agon, "Good idea. Perhaps some of the wisps may be interested if Drais hasn't ordered a retreat?"

Krieg sits forward, "If the krogan and quarians are willing to act as prisoners that would be a more satisfying diversion. We could take a team and find Scythe while the other attempt to keep the Duchess busy."

Dahria stands, "I'll organise my best commandos and return in a few hours." She says before leaving with her officers.

Agon leans towards Tovoh, "I think Ecroy's unit will be the best choice."

The High Lord nods, "I agree, keep his unit on the ground and inform them immediately." he orders before looking to Krieg. "Are you okay with this, Krieg?"

Krieg thinks hard before nodding, "I am. I'll need time to get the team together though." He stands up and looks to Rhea as he takes her hand and escorts her out of the briefing room and they walk down the hallway, "I really pissed Drais off."

Rhea looks at his disappointment, "She doesn't understand, and All-Feather believes in you. Hopefully others will believe in you too. I take it you want a medic on your expedition?"

Krieg looks at her and knows what she is asking, "Of course. But if you don't want the tro-"

Rhea lets him hold her, "I'm a big girl, Krieg. Remember, I did travel without you and survived and you've seen me fight, so you can't refuse."

Krieg smiles and knows she is wright but decides to play it cool, "I'll see you later. You can convince me tonight maybe?"

Rhea lets him walk away and joins Agon while Filestra joins Rhea and looks at the important people talking. "Sounds dangerous, doesn't it?" Filestra says. "Are you going?"

"I want to. I know I can." Rhea admits, "I think he's afraid of what will happen though."

"I would be if I was going to go and defeat and an organisation that have existed over a millennium." The turian puts bluntly, "I'm not going."

Rhea looks at her, "You're not. Why?"

"Because I fear it'll bring back bad memories. When I heard about Yox and what they did to him…it gives the impression Krinal is mad. I guess it's this organic form she's taken. When she was a machine, things were taken differently." she says while following the asari. "And then there's Lilk. He wasn't planned but with no living relatives to take care of him, I need to be here."

"That's the same reason Krieg shouldn't do this." Rhea says worried for him, "This has all come so fast."

"But for Krieg it's different. He's on his own apart from Yenea. He also has you, consider yourself lucky he trusts you. He's hard man to trust." Filestra says before Rhea lights a cigarette. "I take it you heard about Brutagus?"

Rhea looks to her, "No, what happened?"

"He went to Arakon and he tested positive for some blood cancer." Filestra says.

Rhea stops smoking when hearing, "Really, he always seemed so healthy. I've got a feeling he's going as well?"

Filestra leans next to her, "Wouldn't give up this for the world. A chance to see something no one else has."

Rhea looks at the younger female turian's look, "Why do you care about Brutagus' condition?"

She looks at her, "I don't know. I guess it brings you closer to reality." she says nervously but watches as a group of Wisp Clerics walk past in haste.

The group belonged to Drais and had come on their own accord and Krieg is their target. The three of them approach the grey alien while he is talking to Agon and Tovoh though when the krogan notices they step back and Krieg turns. The grey alien thought he had heard the last of the Clergy and if he was going to hear from them again, not as soon as this.

"Can I help you?" Krieg asks politely.

The leader of the Clerics speaks with authority, "We demand the one called All-Feather to come with us. These are the orders of Chief Cleric Drais herself."

"Chief Cleric Drais was just here. Surely she could have told me herself?" Krieg states.

"The High Servant is offended by you and All-Feather's treatment of her within the peace meeting and wishes a peaceful transaction." The cleric orders though his smaller frame seems pathetic to the krogan watching his demands.

Krieg gets close while those around him watch in anticipation, "Tell your Chief Cleric that All-Feather is under my protection, along with any wisp who wishes to stay here. You however will leave my home."

"Not without All-Feather. He has mocked the Chief Cleric and therefore mocked the Highest Servant of the Powers." The Cleric says not moving.

Krieg smiles as he looks through the mask and into his eyes, "I could show you power. Power beyond even the Highest Servant's knowledge."

"We know about your feats, Krieg. The Clergy seems to have been worried about their choice of General. They heard how you shook the ground and tore it apart. They are beginning to think that you are a Geth'Uin Lord like Sweha said, but-" With this word Krieg grabs the quarian by the throat while anyone else is too slow to stop him.

Due to his weight Krieg has no trouble lifting him in the air while speaking, "If that is what you want to call me, so be it. However it doesn't mean I will take it lightly." He says before pulling the wires out of the quarians suit and throwing him to the ground, "I'll let the force of nature decide whether you become ill." He says before the two others help him up and scurry themselves out of the building.

Chek leans over to Difan, "What's a Geth'Uin Lord"

"It's a type of cultural boogieman from what I read about the Wisps. They say that the Geth'Uin appears in certain times in any form in order to entice us into its bidding. That's what the clergy says anyway. I think we have something like that. The fact that they share the name Geth is not a coincidence." Difan says having researched their culture, "This will make the wisps angry."

Enti looks at the pair, "We'd better get back."

"No father." Chek says just as they are about to leave, "I might put my name forward for this mission."

Enti crosses his arms, "Chek, that isn't a good idea. You're needed on the ship."

"No, I'm not. If anything you need to step down." he says though very quietly. "I have watched you for the past four years slowly beginning to fall ill and I can't take it anymore. My uses are being wasted I have a chance to do something good. I've done all you've asked but you cant treat us like Bosh'tets forever."

"Don't talk to him like that!" Difan says pushing his older brother.

Chek pushes him back with harder force, "I will say what I like!"

"Like you do with your responsibilities, Chek!" Difan shouts getting close, "You left to go and play criminal with Tido while I had to take over the duties that father had given to you!"

"Won't you…stop…" Enti says while leaning against the wall and not having control of his movements or breathing.

Chek answers back to his younger brother, "I didn't want that life for myself. You however wanted to please him. I went my own way!"

"And where did that get you?" Difan shouts before Enti collapses and screams in pain.

Rhea sees this and immediately runs up to him and turns to the two brothers, who look in disbelief. "Get a fucking stretcher up here! He's having a stroke!" she shouts and Krieg is the one to respond as he and Filestra head to the elevator and Krieg press a button next to the keypad. It signals an emergency and on floor but Enti was waiting for this moment but not under these circumstances.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

"Your father-in-law had a heart-attack in front of his sons arguing?" Joker says looking to Zeki leaning against the kitchen unit.

"Unfortunately. It only got worse there. Chek thought that going on the mission would help him while Difan thought it would be another to deny is responsibilities like when he left with Tido." Zeki looks to Rhea as she remembers the moment as well.

"Did you manage to treat him?" Joker asks as all but Zeki were present at the time.

Rhea nods though slowly, "I did but this wasn't unexpected. Enti was showing signs for the past four years after the incident on the Malal with Dexillius. I treated him up to that point."

Ecroy speaks while playing with the joints on his prosthetic arm, "I remember that time like it was yesterday. Tension hadn't been higher due to the Scythe being there then the Wisps splintering. I think Krieg was happy about not having to be General anymore but the odd thing was, many of Wisps still believed in him."…

**24/10/2165- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Enti lies on an operating theatre where Rhea and Arakon are trying to help him but outside things are still not resolved. Chek and Difan are still arguing and had been ever since their father left their sight while the others sitting next their sparring battle are not amused or interested in what they had to say. Brutagus, Ecroy, Filestra and Krieg wait while others who are present had more important matters to take care off, such as the mission they were planning. Morale is low at this point but the grey alien continues to watch the conversation and see if anything of value comes from it.

Difan is finishing his rant, "…and another thing! Why do I have to tend to what is down in the lower levels when you obviously aren't brave enough to do it yourself!"

"I can't go down there and look at that. Father would be furious with me if he found what ypu were doing!" Chek shouts.

"You fear him now? You spit on him." Difan says though knows he is going too far.

"Fuck you, Difan! Just because you have a family and everything father wanted in us, doesn't make you better!" Chek says with harsh envy.

"Well at least I don't deny my family. I have tended to him while his mother died in childbirth and her sister took him in. I might as well call him my 'real' brother because you are not man enough to be a brother to me! And you know the worst part of this is? My fucking marriage is deteriorating for it, because of you not agreeing with me that father should know the truth!" and with that he hears the sound of elevator doors closing and standing in front of him is Zeki with Mehoa as well as Yenea and Lilk. All of them had been transported down by shuttle in order to reunite and support what has been to her a father-figure. "Zeki, I…" his wife ignores him and sits next to Krieg.

The grey alien takes his child and Zeki takes hers while Lilk stands by his mother's side. The door opens and both brothers wait impatiently while Rhea walks out and says nothing. She does however shake her head to indicate the verdict that Enti had died this day and his sons immediately break through and see what's left of him. She hugs Zeki before letting her go in as well with Mehoa and Krieg takes the asari's hand while holding his child with the other. Filestra also takes Lilk away while Brutagus remains with Ecroy because unlike the others they were alone.

Ecroy looks to Brutagus, "Are you coming on this mission?" the krogan asks.

Brutagus nods, "I plan to, despite what you've been told."

"Nice way to go, I say. Finding a hidden base and defeat an ancient enemy, it sounds like one of those myths." Ecroy says before walking with him, "How long have they said you've got?"

"Long enough to retire for a few years before it really kicks in. Who knows? I just want to do some good before I die." he admits.

"Have you bothered contacting that asari?" he asks.

Brutagus shakes his head, "It's not worth it. I knew her for a short time but I got the feeling she wanted something a bit more long-term. I gave her a lot of my credits to live on and I guess that was my way to say goodbye."

"I'm surprised. From what I've seen here, you aliens should want some happiness before the end."

Brutagus smiles while pressing the keypad of the elevator, "With my line of work, happiness is overrated."

"Rhea seems happy with Krieg. Why can't you?"

He looks to him, "I'd need a miracle. And miracles don't exist."

When the three of them head into Krieg Worksop, Krieg directs Yenea to watch something on the console while Rhea sits on a chair facing the waterfall. She has feelings of failure on her face due to her treating Enti and feels she could have done more. Krieg sits on the floor beside her and thinks about Enti himself. He didn't know him very well but he knew enough to know that despite being a pirate he had a good heart.

He looks up to a tearful Rhea, "There's nothing more you could've done, Rhea."

She looks to him with warmth, "I know. Enti was just…he was good to me and now it's strange to think he's gone as well. My mother once told me not take a long life for granted, because few have what we have, the asari. The krogan can understand that though there ways are different."

Krieg nods though technically he has only lived for ten years. "Just because you have long life doesn't mean it should live a life alone. I haven't been in this galaxy for long but I know that without you I wouldn't have experienced it the way I have. I live a life not knowing where I'm from or what I am but there is something that knows the answers I seek. If you want to come…please do."

Rhea looks at him, "You're not afraid?"

"That I get to share it with someone I love?" Krieg says before standing, "I love you, I love Yenea and even could say I love INC. I suppose you could say you all my family with what we've been through."

Rhea stands up and kisses him on the lips, "I know that things haven't gone to plan. My life was like that but, I don't regret it. I love you too, and I want to spend it with you if you'd let me?"

Krieg smiles before leading her to the bed where his daughter sits. He puts Yenea on his knee while leaning against the wall and Rhea sits beside him with her head resting on his shoulder. The group watch the console and keep quiet while they fall asleep.


	48. Operation Uprising: Part I

**Chapter XLVIII: Operation Uprising: Part I**

**29/10/2165- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

Ships cover the islands that were once tranquil view as the beginning of the final assault is coming for both the krogan and their long-time rivals who have defected against their rulers. Frigates of both factions are grounded on the open plains of the islands and preparing themselves. For krogan of this type it wasn't the same as their kin on Tuchnaka as these are calm and collective about their approach and each of the thousands of soldiers is wearing their armour and ready to fight though the battle will take place in the empty void of space. For the asari it's different as they use their biotic skills and duel each other to perfect the art naturally given to them through evolution but with the news of their true masters, these soliders are more on edge.

Many wisps decided to show where their loyalty lay and it was with Krieg as they also prepare and have since become friendlier with the krogan as the two outcast groups each race heralds from share a strange respect and brotherhood and have learned much from each other. The war leaders have also used the little time they had getting to know more about the true enemy and themselves as Dahria and Agon are wondering through the camps and see their soldiers readying themselves but before they can react the first of the ships are ready to join the fleets on the edges of the system.

"I think we'll have enough firepower, but against that dreadnaught we'll have to see." Agon states knowing the Zenith is a monster compared to most warships. "The frigate we're sending on the mission is ready and the weapons have been stored. Have you chosen a Commander?"

"I've picked Chavai. Despite her obvious dislike for T'Anya and history they share, she has proved one of my most valuable agents. She'll work with your Commander, Ecroy isn't it?"

"Warlord Ecroy now. He has proven himself a leader of our people, Likosh has been promoted as Commander and will be a part of Brutagus' team." he reveals.

Dahria crosses her arms, "I never thought I'd be working with the krogan, especially such well-mannered ones. I've never noticed before but your men seem to be bigger, muscular than the stranglers we used to kill."

Agon smiles and knows that these krogan despite all looking the same in an alien's eyes are slightly different, "Our new homeworld is different to Tuchanka, and we've become different with it. The krogan are healthy but after a few generations, Lord Tovoh theorises that we're beginning to see an evolution or adaption. Every child grows a little larger, stronger, smarter. Maybe it is our society that's changing them. We don't believe in the clans anymore."

"If you have evolved then you might not want to call yourself krogan." Dahria states before moving on and allowing Agon to ponder on that thought.

Rhea watches from the balcony of the training courts and the krogan had brought in something they could use in the mission though its purpose is unknown. It is creature that krogan have brought from their world though from its appearance it was once fauna of Tuchanka. The reason anyone could tell was the uncanny likeness of a varren though the difference between its cousins was the build of such a creature. This animal is much larger than a varren and has a heavier frame to it. The legs are built for balance but have a strong build while its head was held higher, giving it a height of ten foot. The muscular physic of the animal is impressive but its head is similar to varren's though bigger and the snout wasn't as long in terms of proportion. The colours of the beast are similar to its cousin though has noticeable stripes painted on it. The creature had a wire around its neck and despite its deceptive nature is very docile and lay on the ground while a krogan tends to it.

Krieg and Yenea approach the asari and lean against the balcony while he puts an arm around her waist, "What do you think?"

"You want me to get on that?" Rhea wonders and unsure.

Krieg smiles, "Why not? You don't like it?"

Rhea looks at the creature, "What is it?"

"Agon said on their world they're called Rough-Riders. They brought a load from Tuchanka before they became extinct and now their used again as mounts. Keeps the planet healthier." Krieg lifts his daughter up, "What do you think of the big girl down there?"

Yenea holds the balcony and smiles, "It's got big teeth and its bigger than anything I've seen. Can I ride it?"

Krieg smiles, "Maybe, do you want to have a closer look?" Yenea nods and he carries her towards the staircase that leads downstairs. He turns and sees Rhea not accompanying them, "What are you doing now?"

Rhea turns while still leaning, "I'm going get my gear ready and then get an early night. We're leaving early tomorrow so don't be up too late." She says before letting them go. She sees Zeki walking down the hallway and lets her join her in watching Krieg and Yenea getting closer to the Rough-Rider. The asari watches her friend lean on the balcony, "Have you talked to Difan?"

Zeki nods, "Yeah. I was so stupid for thinking he would have an affair."

Rhea nods though doesn't believe she is stupid for such a theory, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Zeki looks to her, "He was helping out a woman in the lower decks because she was taking care of an orphaned child. Originally I thought that it Difan's but it turned out Enti was still active even at his age. The child is Difan's brother, younger brother. When he found out Chek silenced him due to Enti's health because their feared the shock and Chek couldn't believe his father would do such a thing anyway."

"Who was the mother?" Rhea wonders though by the time the child was born she hadn't even met the Malal family.

Zeki sighs, "A whore to put it simply, only normally they used to abort them. She decided to keep the child. According to her sister, she planned on blackmailing Enti. She died in childbirth." The quarian turns and leans against the balcony, "Now it's in the open, Difan wants to take care of the boy. He think he has a responsibility to, I said I would help him but it's strange because he's technically my brother-in-law."

Rhea stands and hugs her friends, "What about you and Difan? Did you tell him?" she breaks the hug off to see a nodding from Zeki, "Well? Is he okay?"

Zeki continues nodding, "He is. Since the Malal is staying here until the battle is over, we're going to spend some time together, try and rebuild what we lost."

Krieg has taken Yenea into the courtyard to see the beast in front of them. He keeps Yenea's hand while they approach the krogan who has it under its care. Another feature built into this courtyard is a group of varren inside a pen who unlike their larger cousin are more aggressive though when the krogan shouts, they calm down. These smaller animals are separated from the much large of its kind though Yenea is interested in looking at them all. She isn't afraid to pat one of the varren on the nose and it doesn't attempt bite the girl while Krieg begins a conversation with the krogan.

"What's that Rough-Rider doing over there? Normally they prefer open spaces from what I've seen in the war." Krieg asks looking at the creature that seems to be in some sort of pain.

The krogan tamer wears padded armour that protects himself from varren bites but otherwise doesn't wear anything for combat, "This one's close to giving offspring. From the scan it has two inside it; normally it only gives birth to one."

"Why's that?" Krieg says crouching and stroking the head of the female.

"A pup is about half the size of varren when it comes out, imagine having two inside you." The Tamer states before crossing his arms, "Some of us will have to sedate her before the birth. It's easier that way. Rough-Rider females are bigger than the male and get really stressed in times of labour so that's why we have it here." The tamer looks at the Yenea who is still patting the varren, "You like animals, little girl?"

Yenea turns while continuing to stroke the varren, "Yeah."

"You want a varren to take with you? I have plenty of pups to get rid of." He asks though doesn't take the fact she is young into account.

Krieg stands and crosses his arms, "I don't think she's old enough to have one. They're not very friendly?"

The Tamer laughs, "That's because the ones you've see aren't bred to protect, their bred to fight. We learned that an animal is more loyal if you treat wright. How do you think we got that big bitch in here without any trouble? Lord Tovoh has travelled all over our world with that thing for years."

Krieg looks at the animal, "This is Tovoh's? I didn't think he would need a mount of any kind?"

"Even High Lords have recreational activities. Tovoh has a dozen of these back home and tends to them, however it's the first time he's had one giving birth to two before." the krogan states before walking towards a small group of transportable kennels and looking at the young varren. "Tovoh keeps Tuchanka's fauna alive."

Krieg approaches him and looks at the various creatures, "What are males like?"

"Depends, males are strange because they come in two varieties. The first is a common male which is normally aggressive and has to have its balls out to calm it, and then there's the stallion he's loaned you." The tamer says taking out a varren with a white hide and grey marking though has yellow eyes, "Old Xalath is a tamed monster, fast, strong, loyal. He'll get you anywhere you need in twice the time."

"Is he aggressive?" Krieg wonders.

"The opposite actually. Unlike the common male, Old Xalath is an alpha-breed. They're almost as big as a female but more likely to breed in the wild, no competition from common males." He says before taking a piece of meat and feeding the varren, "In fact, Old Xalath knocked up the girl over there. Let's just hope his next of kin are like him."

Krieg looks as his daughter approaching the krogan and looks at the varren and strokes him while the krogan willingly give her the animal to mind. The varren is almost half the size of her though she enjoys holding it, causing Krieg to smile and turn back, "How much for that thing?"

The Tamer looks up after closing the kennel, "Keep it. Varren breed quickly so whatever I can get rid now will be easier. I don't suppose any more kids would want them?"

"I don't think quarians would like them too much." he says before shaking his hand and crouching to Yenea. "You like him?"

Yenea smiles as the animal dribbles on her arm, "Yeah. Can I show my friends?" He nods before letting her go and thinking about the mission they will go on tomorrow.

In the medical clinic, Arakon is leaning back on his chair while Brutagus sits on the other side. The turian now knows that he has a disease that will eventually kill him though the Spectre is insistent on going on the mission into the unknown. The salarian types into his console which loads some data to the turian's omni-tool.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the salarian asks concerned. "You really don't have to, considering the facts."

The turian smiles, "Hey, I've still got some life left in me. Besides, from what I hear about the world we're going to, it's a sight to see." He sends some data back to Arakon who begins to read it, "Before I go I need you to do something for me. I have a daughter and with the credits I still have I want to give them to her. If I don't come back, can you sort it out?"

"I'm not a lawyer, Oristar. I will though." Arakon says before allowing the turian to leave and in comes the next patient, which happens to be Ecroy. "How's the arm?"

"Strange but I manage. Don't notice it in a fight so can't complain." Ecroy says before leaning back, "Have you found what it was that was inside my arm?"

The salarian leans forward, "It was a synthetic tissue of some kind but I'll get some friends to look into it. I hear you've been promoted to something? Congratulations."

"Thanks but considering my role, wouldn't exactly say its worth anything right now." he says though is thankful for his promotion. "I am having bad dreams though."

"Bad dreams? Nerves maybe?" Arakon puts forward.

"No, these are too frequent. I keep dreaming about aliens and them being like me, I've had to turn to the ryncol to forget about it?" the krogan admits showing signs that he is drinking too much.

"I see…And when you don't have alcohol, you have these dreams?" the salarian stands and looks out the window. "Ecory, I can't do anything about that because taking out the last of the tissue converted could kill you. I can tell you to get through it. May be one day it'll be as easy as falling asleep."

The krogan stands and nods but shrug's at the same time, "I prefer the ryncol. Thanks." He leaves and makes his way to the elevator and passing everyone who is going on the mission with him.

Rhea is within Krieg's workshop and the asari is preparing for the mission she is about to embark on. It has been over ten years since she first met Krieg within the ship owned by Eclipse and from there she has been on many adventures both with her lover and without him. Her case, which will store her gear has been packed neatly and her intention is to be prepared as the system they are going to is unknown to nearly the entire galaxy.

Her equipment consisted of a set of new armour made for her and this was made by Krieg himself but the style is different with dark blue padding underneath the blue plates. The armour is light but sturdy though had the option of removing the arms encase the planet is warmer than expected. The weapon that she was given by Rhodius is still a constant in her life and doesn't part with it though this model hasn't been used in years yet its design makes it timeless. She puts the case with her weapon inside the larger case and finishes by putting in a backpack full of supplies she'll need.

Now she has time to relax as she opens the window of the workshop and lights cigarette while watching Krieg enter and carrying a few tools, "Hey, how is Yenea with her new friend?"

"Can't take it off her." he says sitting down on a nearby chair, "You don't mind if she has it do you?"

Rhea inhales the smoke, "Not my decision, is it?" She then exhales before walking over and leaning on the desk, "How are you feeling?"

Krieg looks up to her though the question isn't exactly simple, "I'm fine. I'm just nervous." Rhea puts out her hand and offers him a chance to have some of her cigarette and he accepts before giving it back to her, "Come here."

Rhea walks over and sits on his lap while letting him hug her torso, "I was thinking about calling my mother though I know it's not the best idea. I just wanted to say I love her."

"I think she knows already." Krieg replies before they both stand and he starts to undress himself, "I wouldn't worry, Rhea. I intend to defeat Krinal and live to tell the tale."

Rhea finishes undressing before climbing into bed, "But then there are the reapers. We'll be at war with them as well."

Krieg spoons up to her and kisses her neck, "Let them come." He then closes his eyes and tries to go to sleep while Rhea waits and thinks about the times ahead.

The destination itself is already occupied by the Zenith and the dreadnaught stands alone while passing the farther of the two planets within the system. The orange gas giant was the battle space before Krinal is able to strike the Scythe where they hide as this system is where the Scythe have hidden and where the reaper programmes resides. Despite the loss of the bulk of their forces, the Scythe still had an impressive navy though made mainly now of frigates and only one dreadnaught-class ship. The reaper-inspired fleet has nothing however that can equal the masterpiece of Krinal's design. Though the shape is similar the Emissary's ship has no legs and therefore more armaments.

Krinal herself is standing on the bridge and waiting for the Scythe fleet to enter in position while standing at her side is Juna. The absence of their fleet has the former-spectre on edge as the fleet of pirates would have been useful cannon fodder for the Zenith but her leader has better ideas. Krinal sits on her chair and brings up a screen in order to generate a hologram of the fleet so she can pick her chosen targets.

Juna crosses her arms, "This is suicide. We can't beat them here on the home turf. They have at least seventy ships out there. One shot from one of that dreadnaught and we're done."

Krinal smiles, "That why Sintarrio has been sent out. I'm giving him the orders now." She says brushing her hand through a set of frigates and lighting them up.

Juna watches from the window as the frigates that have been chosen by Krinal begin to explode and because of the distance she can't see that Sinatrrio is causing the damage. Due to the fact that they are in space the Emissary doesn't have to worry about completely destroying the ships, only breaking their hull is needed. In order to do this she targets some more frigates and Sintarrio creates holes in them and causes the disruption needed. Krinal opens her keypad while targeting the main ship of the fleet, the dreadnaught and presses a button on the keypad to show what the Zenith can actually do.

While the VI system attacks frigates trying to close in onto the ship the front of the ship begins sprouting tentacle like one of her drones would only these took more time and are not as flexible. The tentacles move slowly and continue to extend beyond the Zenith. This tactic of placing this device into the ship is to not only confusing the enemy but a trap the enemy as the Zenith operates its shield to maximum and pushes forwards through any ship that gets in its way. The Scythe don't see what's coming when the tentacles push through the hull and in the inside clamp into the ship so that it has a grip.

Juna hasn't seen this before and is confused, "What good does this do? We're stuck; we're attached to the other ship."

Krinal smiles, "The Zenith is now attached to the dreadnaught where most of the crew are, not only that but the highest ranking officer, therefore the ships will retreat for now."

"Then why don't we just destroy it?" Juna asks before Krinal brings up a screen in which the view is of the other end of the tentacle. The visual is off the Asari Scythe continuing to attack something from the down the tunnel or inside the tentacle but before they can close it, husks begin to appear pressing forward. Instead of vorcha, all varieties are among the army now and are kept within the Zenith itself though not a sophisticated as reaper controlled constructs, more sentient and organic looking. Most are just a single member of the species in husk form while a few are unique but the focus is on the slaughter. Krinal is destroying the ship inside out.

The next morning and the Scythe Frigate that will be used in the mission is ready and landing ontop of Krieg's base to pick up those ready to go. The asari are waiting inside already waiting for their allies the krogan led by Ecroy enter. They don't wear their armour but nonetheless take it with them for a failsafe. Wisps are also present and are being ordered by All-Feather to enter the ship as well and get themselves acclimatised.

The cargo deck of the ship has been stocked with equipment requested by each group. Crates of weapons are stacked next to a cage contains the Rough-Rider of Tovoh's named Old Xalath though the creature sits quietly but sports a reddish hide and orange underbelly. Next to the cage is where the krogan situate themselves and get comfortable while on the other side the Wisps make camp next to the shuttle Brutagus had requested. The shuttle is a prototype that will one day evolve into the Kodiak but unlike its successor it didn't sport any paint to indicate it was alliance.

Outside of the frigate's ramp are the remaining members of the crew, those who would be leading the mission. Chavai bows to Dahria in respect before leaving and Ecroy and Likosh do the same with Tovoh. Krieg, Rhea and Yenea are sharing a moment while next to them is Chek who is dismissive and knows that with his father dead he now seems more distant from his brother than ever. Zeki and Mehoa keep their distance while Difan approaches him and the two brothers begin a conversation for the first time in a week.

Difan crosses his arms and from his sighing he knows that this isn't a good idea, "You can still back out, Chek."

Chek smiles, "They need a tech. Besides, the adventure would do me good. Is everything okay now?"

Difan turns to his wife and daughter as well as his unborn child. "They're fine but we've got work to do when you get back. The crew needs briefing and-"

"Difan…why are you telling me this?" he asks and watches his brother trying to make excuses, "Father was more proud of you not because you did as he wanted, I was wrong. He was proud of you because you succeeded where we both failed."

Difan sighs and knows what he is talking about, "I was willing to risk it for our brother."

Chek nods, "You're a better man than I ever will be. I spent years travelling the galaxy with Tido and it got me back to this spot. You only had to travel to one ship and you were set for life. You remember mother? How could we forget? She was no different to that bitch in the lower decks. Every woman wanted me and not you because I would inherit the ship from father." He says before reaching his pocket and taking a small trinket, "They were wrong, Captain."

Difan looks at the trinket his father use to where under his suit and it was the most basic in form as the small piece of bark had the name of their ancestor, Malal'Tonbay carved into it. Difan shakes his brothers hand before bringing him in, "Thank you, Brother. Keelah'Selai." He watches as the elder brother begins to walk up the ramp.

Brutagus notices the Chek walk past and grabs his arm, "We good?" He gets a nod in return as the quarian is let go and enters leaving only two people left.

Krieg kneels in front of his daughter who isn't holding her varren but has it by her side and the grey alien pets the animal before kissing his daughter's forehead and hugging her. She also receives the same from the asari before the pair of them head up the ramp and Krieg nods to Brutagus who presses the keypad to close the ramp and now they are ready to leave.

In the upper decks, Krieg and Rhea enter their quarters where INC has already stationed itself on the nearby desk as the pair settle in. Rhea sits on the bed and lies down while Krieg opens his case and begins to take his armour out. Rhea watches as now she sees a focused Krieg like he was when he first discovered that Yenea existed.

He turns to face the asari and looks at her with curiosity, "I miss her already."

"It isn't the first time you've been away from her." Rhea says leaning up.

"But it's the first time I've been away unsure about what I am facing. The Scythe were too predictable but Krinal, she's something different altogether." he admits and not sure about the enemy he faces. "We have about two days before we get there. Make yourself at home." he sighs after before exiting the room and leaving the asari alone on ship that once belonged to her enemy.

The headquarters of the enemy lay on the closest planet to a red dwarf star known as Bliss while is also the world of the Scythe itself. It looks like any other garden world to most standards only unlike many civilisations there was no sign of habitants, no lights from the dark side and the only life forms hints of lifefroms are above in orbit. The Scythe had existed for a long time and had used their resources to build a space station near the planet instead of using the planet itself.

This station is much bigger than dreadnaught and acted somewhat like a city for the thousands of asari colonising it. The shape of such structure has changed over the years from early designs to more modern structures but the shape of this leviathan is a ring similar to the presidium only not as huge while it encircles a circular space station inside of it.

The inside is inhabited all by asari and they are many in number. Despite Dahria's insurrection the majority of the army they have built still resides here along with survivors of Krinal and Krieg's campaigns against them. Within the centre sphere the head of the station watches from the bridge as the console show signs of the attack as all inside are hurrying around to prepare themselves. The new Acting-General brings up a map of the system and from the scanners, the Zenith is half way towards its next destination.

The Zenith itself has stopped however and still clutches itself to the Scythe dreadnaught like a leech while inside the slaughter continues with asari either killed or taken away by the husks in order to be transformed. Krinal still sits in her chair and Juna is by her side but Sintarrio has returned as well and the turian leans against the wall waiting for his orders though his face is an expression of guilt for killing so many.

The Emissary turns and faces her Acolytes, "Sintarrio. The Athame Station is the obstacle between us and the Palace itself. I need you to create a distraction while the remains of the dreadnaught prepare itself."

"Prepares?" Sintarrio says thinking that they were simply taking the crew and didn't have use for the actual structure.

"The ship still has uses but I need you to make sure those uses are optimized. Go to the station and attack from a distance, draw their fighters and interceptors out. The Frigates will most like try to incept you again but bring them close them near the station so they can't attack. You won't have any trouble from there." Krinal states having a plan though only having one ship at her disposal.

Sintarrio stands straight, "Very well."

Juna watches him leave and approaches her leader, "That plan is even more suicidal than the last one."

Krinal begin press the keypad and from her screens watches the last of the husks exit the ship before accelerating forwards. "Just watch." she says before signalling the tentacles that held the ship to detract and as the Zenith stops the dreadnaught begins to move away from the Emissary and Juna's sight.

On the station itself the haste of Sintarrio is indeed only a few minutes as the small but deadly turian flies around the station and catching the attention of various turrets but his speed in space is unparalleled. The former-pilot shows his superiority as he flies through the main ring and taunts the commanding officers within the central sphere but he was the least of their problems. The hours go by and the turian doesn't have a scratch and because he had been evading and not attacking the frigates couldn't risk shooting at the space station and killing their superiors.

The dreadnaught that Krinal released however is still moving at the same pace as it did when it parted from the Zenith and the empty ship has only one target. The officers attempt to respond to the ship's arrival but with no one on board to respond and have no clue about the nature of the ship they see Sintarrio remove himself away from the station as the dreadnaught hits the structure. The debris and explosion is huge even on this scale as Sintarrio himself watches the frigates evade the now hazardous zone and some are taken out or engulfed by the flames.

He however has to deal with the small contingent of fighters that are tailing him and following Krinal's orders, heads into back into the debris feild. The fighters follow him though with no clearer view as pieces of the former station hit loose fighters trying to evade them. It is easier for him as an interceptor hits him a few times before the turian notices that the small ships are slowing down and he turn and reverts back into his more organic form while stopping in the moment. From inside the asari cockpits the engineers and inner working are failing as virus is sent from the Zenith, disabling them.

The ships accompanying it feel the same as they don't prepare themselves as all but Sintarrio begin to react remotely and destroy each other. The reason for this event is unknown but Sintarrio knows that staying here too long isn't the best idea as he transforms and leaves in order to reunite with Krinal.

Within the Caleston Rift the fleet of both Krogan and Scythe ships that have betrayed their Duchess are exiting the relay and ready to move towards the second relay on the edge of the cluster. Within the frigate that holds the team that will enter the Bliss System, Brutagus and Ecroy wait outside Chavai's quarters and are nervous about the meeting. They don't know why they have been called while everyone else is asleep but look down the steps to see Krieg and Rhea both walk up with INC just are just as tired.

The turian looks at the pair, "You've been called too? Seems this meeting is more delicate than we thought. Do you know what it's about?"

Rhea shakes her head, "No. Chavai just gave us the message."

The doors to the quarters open and Chavai stands at the door, "Come on in."

The room was simplistic but in the centre is a circular table where the group sit while INC hovers between Krieg and Rhea. Chavai press the keypad in order to bring a visual of the planet and begin this secret meeting.

Ecroy leans back, "What's with all the secrecy? My men have been briefed. Has something happened?"

Chavai speaks, "No. General Dahria and Agon ordered me to withhold some information until we were on board. We haven't been completely honest about the planet and its nature."

"The world looks simple enough. We shouldn't have a problem with it?" Brutagus states before seeing the look on Chavai's face.

She presses the keypad and reveals the space station which did orbit the planet. "Sanctuary has a history. Most asari living in this system live on the Athame Station while the Duchess and the main body of the Scythe resides on the surface with this building." she reveals that on the planet surface and the single structure of the Scythe is nothing more than a tower that resembles a prothean building.

Krieg leans in, "The Scythe didn't build that. I thought you said the protheans are gone?"

"They are but this building is intact." She reveals before opening the data revealing the inner workings, "When my people first found this building, we keep it secret despite being in the middle of a group of mountains and is visible to the naked eye. Its miles high and is protected by a barrier."

"A shield?" Rhea wonders not fully trusting the information.

"Sort of. This shield protects the building more than its inhabitants. When Matriarch Tilitha's ships entered the atmosphere and settled them, she reveal her presence there for years while another species began colonising the system. Eventually that species was destroyed but Tilitha knew that colonising it themselves would be a bad idea."

"It would leave them exposed?" Brutagus asks.

Chavai brings up a map of the shield which consists of various obelisks within the region and the tower as the central hub, "The protheans built these obelisks to protect the tower from orbital bombardment but it also seems to reach into ground, trapping it and if the land begins to shift the tower stays in place and is unaffected. There hasn't been much continental change but from we discovered, the protheans used this as giant zoo. Despite being an obvious garden world we have never been able to locate any local fauna and the flora is alien as well."

"The protheans made a giant nature reserve?" Krieg ask wondering if the protheans are capable of such feats.

"Yes, and its worked. We've never been able to shut it down but the other strange thing is that every species they planted on there has evolved from their original homeworld, very quickly as well." Chavai states before closing the hologram, "Some of these creature are unaccounted for. We have beasts from humanity's homewolrd along with sealife descended from Kahje. I don't what protheans were doing but they never saw their work flourish."

"You said another species colonised the world as well?" Rhea asks.

Chavai zooms to the area in which they are heading, "We're not the only sentient life on this planet from what Dahria discovered. The civilisation that exists on there is only known to the inner circle and we don't have dealings with them. More secrets were kept from us than we realised."

"What happened to them?" Ecroy wonders.

"We destroyed them apparently. There are no logs documenting it but I believe it may have triggered over arguing about the prothean technology. Tilitha destroyed their society. They're known to us as Wilders, something to scare children with. I don't know what they look like or how many live in the area you're heading to but they don't like asari." Chavai reveals.

"I'm not surprised if you destroyed them." Rhea says with distain.

"It's not just that. Some Scythe survey teams on the planet have been missing for centuries, presumed dead." Chavai states before closing the hologram. "If you encounter one, expect hostilities."

Krieg leans back and wonders how a planet with so many different life forms from alien worlds could survive being put together, "This isn't wright. If you put creatures with unknown creatures, they are more likely to get violent. The catalogue you just shown means that everything is stable but it can't be."

"We know and that's the real phenomenon. An example of this is this creature we discovered." She shows pick of a feline with small sabre-teeth, "When the human world was discovered, we logged its origin but its ancestor was much larger. The prothean technology forces them to adapt at rapid pace and within twenty thousand years they got smaller according to the VI."

Rhea leans forward and looks at the creature, "The protheans didn't involve themselves in other species' planets and if they did it was from a distance. Maybe this team was rogue and decided to experiment."

"We came to the same conclusion." Chavai agrees. "Krieg, Rhea. The area you'll be heading for is a place that despite its tranquil nature has some dangerous life forms. Your transports, the Rough-Rider will get you there but apart from that you'll be blind. You can communicate with us in case the Wilders are more advanced than we realise and intercept it."

"What about us?" Brutagus asks. "Will we be safe?"

"We'll be fine until we get to the Palace but shutting the obelisks may prove difficult. There well-guarded and for good reason. Dahria and Agon theorise that the tower will be vulnerable if these are shut down. The wisps All-Feather commands will be needed for this. Ecroy, we know we're going into the tower but as soon as you can arm yourselves, head up. We don't know how long we'll be safe before the obelisks are destroyed and picking you up from a high position will be easier when the fleet can destroy it."

Ecroy nods, "Sure. Me and my men will prove a good distraction. What if the Zenith attacks?"

"The chances are the Zenith won't be able to enter the atmosphere, it'll too big. So it'll attack from orbit which we now knoew is a dead end. The Fleet will deal the ship." Chavai looks around and sees that everyone is satisfied, "Okay, that's all."

On Sanctuary itself, the prothean tower that has stood for over fifty thousand years is still in a strong defensive position. The structure is similar to those that could be seen on other planets such as Feros though since then the asari had upgraded it for their needs. The area is dominated by frigates protecting the location and inside holds thousands of troops under one person's command. The inner workings of the building are a set of platforms and bridges linking one floor with another though there are platforms that move around and transport asari to lower and upper levels while a central elevator stands in the centre and was used only by high-ranking personal.

The Duchess resides on the upper levels within the throne room she has sat in for generations. This room is decorated for a monarch and has a silver ceiling and walls with blue streaks and symbols across it. The throne she sits in is in front of a window of the planet itself and the view is that of the clouds being so high. The rest of the court is a semicircle of seats for the entire inner circle to sit on, leaders of strongholds and enclaves though many had been lost. The Duchess herself sits within an empty room and watches the world around her going by while entering through the main entrance opposite her is Diniva, a Scythe Marquis.

The leader turns to face her subject, "What is it?"

"The Emissary has attacked Athame station. No survives. The surviving ships are retreating to this position to mount a counter-defensive." she says though fearful.

The Duchess stands, "The counter-defensive should have been at the station. The reports I've gotten indicated only the Emissary's flagship is in the system, nothing else."

"The ship is impregnable, ma'am. Our dreadnaught was destroyed in minutes. Your orders?" Diniva wonders though the options are limited.

"Have the scientists succeeded in deciphering the weapon?" she asks though the weapon in question is vague.

"Almost but there may not be enough-"

"Then make time!" she shouts at her. "Send every ship to keep Krinal busy until we can get it online!""

Diniva bows to her, "As you wish ma'am."

The Duchess turns back to the skyline hoping for a miracle though her answer has yet to be called. She is stressed because her General has betrayed her and a portion of her forces have defected. She still has the more numbers but Krinal had been winning the war for years and with the krogan against them as well they have been fighting a war on two fronts.

On the edges of the Caleston Rift, Agon is waiting on the bridge of his dreadnaught as they approach the hidden relay within the cluster. Weeks of planning and the climax has come for the war only this time the sides are united against a more real threat. Dozens of Scythe and Krogan ships approach the relay and engage in an assault against the fleet that guards the very thing that will lead them to the Scythe Palace. The pirates are of different varieties but they had been ungraded in order to combat their well-developed enemy. This space battle however is merely a distraction for something bigger as a frigate is risking a chance by penetrating the barrier and flies through and around the ships in order to reach the relay and jump through to the unknown system beyond it.

Inside Agon's ship over thirty krogan are working on the bridge to keep the pirates busy. The bridge itself is bronze coloured while the Battlemaster General stands on a podium in the centre, leaning on a railing and looking at the battle, shouting orders to his ships. Dahria is doing the same within her dreadnaught, the same model that Krinal had recently destroyed though the two had a good strategy and were helping each other out. Krogan ships were sent on offensive orders while the Scythe focused solely on targeting weaponry in order to avoid many casualties.

Inside the ship heading for the relay, the team is waiting if they can make it through as Krieg, Rhea, Brutagus, Ecroy, All-Feather, Chek, Likosh and Chavai watch from the bridge as the ship dodges enemy gunfire. They do take a few hits but recent upgrades and modifications to the ship has helped shield it from turret fire, which is heavy while they are only seconds away from the relay. They wait patiently for transition as the frigate begins to glow and is caught in the relays grasp and fired into FTL travel, alleviating many within.

Rhea looks at Krieg smiling, "We're through. I thought I was going to die for a second."

Chavai turns to her, "Just because we are through, doesn't mean we're finished. We'll have to get diagnostics on the inner defences and see what we're still dealing with."

Brutagus crosses his arms, "The battle back there will be brutal. We're going to send a signal to them if anything goes wrong, right?"

She nods, "That's the plan. The signal should be clear on this ship so I'll send it to Dahria when appropriate but for now, we can rest again." She says though it is a causal way of dismissing the crew.

Rhea walks with Krieg still nervous about what they'll find, "I can't believe they destroyed a civilisation on the planet. My people wouldn't do that."

Krieg waits until they're alone in a hallway of the ship and leans against the wall with her leaning into him, "These aren't asari."

Rhea looks up to him confused, "What do you mean?"

Krieg smiles though continues, "I've learned a lot of things over time. Races of this galaxy seem to value not their looks but their cultures. It gives them identities we try and understand but we never will, and they're the same. Think about All-Feather and his people, or Ecroy and his. Could they really call themselves a quarian or krogan first? They're not."

Rhea smiles, "I get it. All-Feather is a wisp first, and Ecroy is krogan not of Tuchanka but of the High Lords. They're identities are reflected on their homes rather than their bodies."

"Exactly." Krieg says walking again. "I realise now that I don't need to be of any race to be a part of the something. My friends, family, allies are what make me. I don't know what I am, but I know who I am. Maybe I'm feeling like this because we're close, or I don't want to know anything at all."

Rhea nods. "I guess that's all you need. I know the reapers will try and take all of this from us but at least we're not alone. I'll see you later." she says before walking back to their quarters and leaving him to ponder.

He is quickly interrupted by Brutagus, "Hey, you feeling okay? You've been unusually quiet lately."

Krieg smiles, "Nothing to say. I wonder if you could do something for me?"

The turian nods, "Sure. Depends what it is?"

"I traded some information with the Shadow Broker. Don't worry its fine but I like someone to look into it." Krieg reveals.

"Okay. At least won't trace back to me. What is it you want me to do?"

Krieg gets close and whispers, "It turns out the Shadow Broker managed to retrieve some data off an Eclipse ship, 'the' Eclipse Rhea I was on when she found me. It has certain details involving where I was originally found. A guy called Edan Had'dah bought me but was being used by Krinal. I need you to put some pieces together."

"Sure, what are they?" Brutagus asks with intrigue.

"When Dahria mentioned a hidden mass relay in this system, the Shadow Broker gave me coordinates to another one nearby, in the Omega Nebula. I don't know where it goes but I have a feeling that Scythe does."

"Why can't you do it yourself after the mission?" Brutagus asks though suddenly he asks another question. "Wait, if it's in that cluster, then why didn't the Scythe notice it and find you themselves?"

Krieg sighs, "The relay isn't active for some reason. I've tracked a few relay's and found that a group that respond to a trigger, one shuts down another one opens to this specific area. Krinal waited decades for the wright one to open. If my theory is correct, the one in that cluster will open in next few months."

The turian looks around, "I'm sick as it is, I can't commit myself to something like this extensively."

"Don't tell the Council, they'll send a fleet into this cluster. If they find what the Scythe have done to this civilisation, then the asari are in the shit. I need someone who I can trust with this." Krieg says and putting his hand out before getting a reply. "Thanks."

**2185- Zakera Ward, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Brutagus and Likosh are walking through the district though by their manner they are both in a hurry. The reason for such action is because they have noticed C-Sec officers trying to tail them though the turian and the krogan are not exactly thrilled about this apparent distraction. They walk near they're air-car and wait for a few seconds before Likosh turns around and sees one of the officers, a human, pulls out his firearm and about to shoot. The krogan pulls his shotgun in response and fires it towards the human, instantly killing him while Brutagus opens the car and they both get inside.

"Cerberus agents." He says before closing the door and Likosh looks from the back seat, "I didn't think they'd be in league with Udina."

"I doubt Udina knows." the krogan says. "As soon as C-Sec finds out they'll keep him busy for a while. The human won't want to be wrapped up in a scandal like this."

"Cerberus have been trying for years to make it as if I'm going rogue like Saren did. They want me killed and are getting bolder each time." the turian reveals. "Those weren't the same ones that dealt with T'Anya. They're dead."

"Then who were they? And where is the other team?"

"They must be close to Rhea's location. They want me and you out of the way to take her, and most likely want to prod that mind of hers." he reveals before heading into the freeway. "They want more information on Krieg or maybe the data I have taken already has it."

"What was in it that was so important?" Likosh asks leaning towards the front.

"Something delicate. Remember Sanctuary and everything that happened there? If the Alliance or Cerberus gets T'Anya, they'll find out what we did when we went there. We can't let either of them near it. This is what it's been all about. They want to know our edge, why we've sabotaged so Cerberus operations over the past year and where we're getting the bodies." Brutagus says changing lanes.

"But Sur'Kesh knows already. We know they've been their behind everyone's back." Likosh admits.

"Let's just focus on getting to T'Anya. We have to end this now like we did back then."…

**31/10/2165- Sanctuary, Bliss System, Unnamed Cluster**

Krinal looks at the planet and with familiarity in her face as she focuses upon the northern hemisphere on the upper continent. Both Juna and Sintarrio are by her side while she presses a button on her keypad and begins a launch sequence for yet another feature in the Zenith. A distress signal comes from keypad as well and when she opens it, Jotan appears and is in distress. Knowing he has failed she doesn't listen to the live transmission which requests aide but even the audio is incomprehensible to her as shuts it off and sits down.

Sintarrio is confused and looks at the Emissary, "We're not going to help me?"

"Jotan knew the risk of leading the fleet. His time is up." she says with no remorse before watching the countdown. "When the probes launch I'll need you to make sure the shields remain up. Destroy the Scythe forces protecting the one in the south, I'll send drones for the others ones. Juna, when the attack begins I want you to keep the Zenith afloat while I'll deal with the Duchess personally. The tower must stay intact, that's the one rule. When you lower enough in altitude, use the Zenith's tentacles and penetrate the building. The new set of Banshees will deal with the forces along with the husks."

"What about Krieg and T'Anya?" Juna asks concerned.

"They're not my concern anymore. Once this tower is ours, the real secrets will be mine to dominate." she states before standing up and walking out of the room with Sintarrio giving Juna the bridge. "Begin Operation Uprising."

The Zenith releases a few probes from the ship and they head in unison towards the atmosphere. The probes have a prime target which is located exactly where the Palace stands but these were not sent to attack or release troops. Krinal's purpose for this is revealed when each one hits the bottom of the tower, not even scratching the prothean structure. The probes are only a few metres wide and don't look very appealing as the asari in charge of security watches as the probes begin to be swallowed into the surrounding earth. No one knows what has just happened until the sounds of rumbling and the floors of the structure begin to shake. The region is stable with the shields active and should be protecting them from earthquakes and natural shifting of the tectonic plates, but the rumbling isn't an earthquake.

Those near the bottom of the tower are beginning to see that they are not collapsing but the earth is moving upward as dirt, rocks and bits of machine in the form of tentacles and have similarities to what reaper constructions are made of begin climbing the tower slowly but surely. The weapon Krinal is using against the Scythe is what is underneath, what the protheans had built the shield from when they arrived so they could study it. Krinal watches in anticipation as the mould begins to expand while keeping the structure intact.


	49. Operation Uprising: Part II

**Chapter XLIX: Operation Uprising: Part II**

**31/10/2165- Sanctuary, Bliss System, Unknown Cluster**

The Scythe Palace is hopeless against the terror Krinal has unleashed upon them as the tower is slowly being overrun by the earth itself. The mass of rocks and dirt are being led by machines that the Emissary has under her control. The tower is half-way from being completely eaten by this attack but this is one concern among many as the Zenith enters the atmosphere of the planet and hovers above the tower ready to attack the inside and the thousands of troops which are trapped within.

The Zenith shouldn't be able to enter this low but the technology is advanced enough to cheat the fact. It only has this opportunity due to the mound of earth being too solid in its mass and strength so the tentacles that once embedded itself into the Scythe dreadnaught near the planets neighbour begin to extend towards the tower while descending. Juna is directing the tentacles via Krinal's keypad and aims for the middle levels so they can make easy work from the centre working down and above at the same time. Juna watches nervously as the tentacle push against the metal and the pressure of the alloy is too much for it and before the Scythe can prepare themselves, husks enters the Palace and the last battle of the Scythe War begins with Krinal as the apparent victor. The Zenith also begins releasing thousands of drones in order to take key positions and solidify their victory as Sintarrio heads for the southern obelisk the protheans built and will attempt to capture it though his prowess already assures his victory.

A small shuttle breaks off from the Zenith and flies high towards the Duchess' throne room. The court of the Scythe is unprepared as the shuttle fires its weaponry and destroys the window before they can even counter. Once the shuttle opens, drones are released and begin fighting the Scythe's inner circle and a true battle between biotics and technology takes place. The asari use their natural power well but these drones are different to the ones Krinal normally uses as they were mounted on organic-inspired exoskeletons similar to Unit-3 and climb the terrain of the courtroom along with working together to kill the asari with their holographic melle-weaponry.

The Duchess has only just gotten up in middle of the chaos but is flung back by Krinal in full armour ready to fight. The Duchess throws a singularity but the attack is in vain as Krinal carries gauntlets that allow her fingers to extended and create a pulse. She shields herself and the fingers act like whips repeating the shield as they move. When she stands she uses the other gauntlet to extend the fingers and wrap them around the Duchess and bring her close. When within sparring distance she punches her twice in the face before throwing her up and firing a biotic push towards the main foyer which is round and open enough for them to fight.

The Duchess stands though injured and watches Krinal's helmet retract, "So you it?"

"Her." she says before charging and hitting her into the near wall. "I bet it's an honour to finally meet me. Don't you think?"

The Duchess begins to stand, "I…never thought it would come to this. Over a man of all things." She says before pushing her back across the floor. "We've waited centuries for this and you ruined it. If only he had more time."

Krinal chuckles while getting up. She holds the Duchess in a biotic field, "He wouldn't have followed you anyway. I gave him a chance, you know? But he turned it down. Seems T'Anya has him and we're left alone."

"How did you even find us?" she asks confused.

"It took me years to find this place…again. I couldn't remember after the last time. It does that, makes you forget. Then the Reapers came and took everything, except me but my kin are now nothing more than pawns while I am a queen." she says before throwing her across the room again. "Scythe can't protect you now, no matter what you think. Dahria betrayed you because what you have done here, or your predecessor, Tilitha. She has lot to answer for. Destroying a civilisation just because of the power of this place, now regressed in your shadow."

"We couldn't allow them to interfere!" she shouts but her attack is blocked and she is pushed again. "They attacked us first!"

"Of course they did! I know! I was meant to be here like I was but I was delayed. I'm here to finish the job." she says before hitting her again.

Chavai's ship is passing through the debris that was once the Scythe fleet that patrolled the neighbouring planet of Sanctuary. The captain looks at the outside amazed at the destruction caused by Krinal and her ship but as the rest of the main crew enter to see for themselves but some are just as astonished while others remain silent. The crew were wearing their armour for the mission apart from Ecroy who intended not to wear anything heavy but it seems from what Chavai can gather, their mission is on halt.

She turns to the others, "They're gone, all of them. I thought the Zenith would keep them busy."

"That's what you get for underestimating Krinal of all people." Krieg states before walking forward and getting a better look. "Dahria mentioned a space station? I wonder if they've reached it yet."

"Can you still patch in a channel to them?" Rhea asks opening a console and hoping for a signal. In return she finds a weak signal from main power, "INC, hack into the security and piece together what's happened."

"Processing." the machine says before the nearest screen to Rhea opens and shows what truly happened on the Zenith, which was that the dreadnaught that was part of the fleet had been hurled into the station causing everyone who is watching to freeze.

Rhea crosses her arms, "INC, try and hack into the Zenith."

Krieg objects, "It's not worth the risk!"

Rhea shakes her head, "If Krinal has destroyed the fleet and the space station in two moves. Who knows what she's done to the Palace already. INC, do as I say."

INC obeys the asari and begins attempting to break through the firewalls of the ship not far from their position, "Processing: Zenith located: Sanctuary Atmosphere."

"A ship that size couldn't keep afloat in the atmosphere." Ecroy says before INC begins to emit strange sounds from its audio, "What the fuck is that thing saying?"

They group watch as the drone is reacting to breaking through the Zenith and it causes the nearby screen to project the broken images of the Zenith's video banks. The live stream shows the Palace itself being overrun by the strange substance climbing it while they see in front of them the tentacles are keeping the ship afloat with additional support from the rocky pillar that emerged from the growing mound.

Krieg looks at the screen with great intrigue, "Whoa, would you look at that. Oh, Krinal."

"Krieg, what is it?" Rhea asks before watching the grey alien turn and smile in amazement.

"That's Scythe."

"I thought Scythe was a reaper programme or something?" Chavai states not knowing anything beyond that.

"Oh it is, but not in the way we see it. Scythe is a machine like any reaper but not a full-reaper. That must be only a piece of it, buried under the ground."

Rhea can't help but feel strangely respectful of the reaper's ingenuity, "That's why the shields are up. It stops Scythe from attacking."

"Correction: Scythe is attacking against its will." INC states gaining everyone's attention.

"How can you tell?" Brutagus asks.

The drone begins manipulating a console, "The cybernetics of Scythe are embedded within the Zenith's systems now and following the orders of a VI. It has a distress signal asking aide to free it."

"Free a reaper program?" Krieg wonders whether the risk is worth it, "How?"

"The obelisks?" Chavai puts forward before being surer. "If we commit ourselves to destroying the obelisks then maybe Scythe won't be bound by the shield."

"That's a risk and you know it, it could kill us all." Rhea states still unsure.

"But the secrets within that prothean tower must be numerous. Krinal must want them or wish to enhance the prothean's success or even self-control Scythe. This doesn't make sense, Krinal serves Nazara, and it wants Scythe destroyed." Krieg says constantly frustrated.

"Or maybe the reapers wish to use it. A weapon like that has potential for any race let alone an already powerful one." Brutagus states before looking at the terrain, "But Rhea has a point, destroying these obelisks would be a risk for everyone, not just those within the tower.

"Only if we're not quick enough to escape." Chavai states before opening a map of the area. "These four points are what hold the shield but if they were all destroyed, maybe it'll destroy the tower. If we focus on three and then destroy the fourth from the sky we may just have enough time."

"You do that." Krieg states looking at the map. "I still want to travel to this area nearer the south obelisk, find out what I can."

"It's suicide, Krieg." Rhea says before Krieg smacks his fist on the table.

"Damn it, Rhea! I need answers, about this, about me, everything!"

"What happened to being comfortable with not knowing?" she shouts.

"But this doesn't make sense. Krinal using Scythe when originally wanting to destroy it!"

"Hey, you two! Calm the fuck down!" Ecroy shouts before turning to Chavai. "Let's talk strategy. I'll lead a team to eastern obelisk while Chavai, you take the west. Likosh, you and Brutagus use tactics similar to Virmire to destroy this southern one here while All-Feather takes the north."

"How do we divide the soldiers?" Chavai asks wondering about the efficancy.

"We mix them and they'll work together. Each of us will brief them on the situation. Chek, stay with the ship and break into Zenith's controls, attempt to disarm all of the drones so that Krinal's army is usless." Ecroy orders.

"If that will help?" the quarian says before opening his omni-tool. "But what about those 'husk' things?"

Krieg shakes his head, "There's nothing we can do for them now. Reaper technology is a one-way trip I'm afraid. Chavai, drop us off in the south first and if we find anything we'll contact you."

She nods, "Sure. Lieutenant, set a course for the Palace continent. Ecroy, let's go arm everyone." She, Ecroy and Likosh leave the room and All-Feather and All-Feather follow as leaders of the teams.

Chek shrugs, "I guess I'll be seeing home after all." He walks up to Krieg though nervous about what is about to happen, "Are you sure you'll be okay down there? I've seen Krinal's base before."

Krieg smiles, "I know but you need to get ready. We'll be relying on you to remotely disable as much as you can."

"Oh, I'll try." Chek says before walking out of the bridge himself and leaves Rhea and Krieg to ignore each other over this tense moment.

Krinal is still battling with the Duchess and the two have been fighting for hours while the foyer is scattered with dead asari and drone pieces. The two powerful biotics fight and with no mercy for the other. The battle is magnificent but it is unfortunate that no one is there to see it as Krinal pushes the Duchess into the wall before the asari pushes her back. Dodging a singularity, the Emissary is quick on her feet as she charges towards her opponent and knocks her into the wall again. The Duchess resorts to throwing objects towards the Emissary in order to have time to counter but she throws an asari body back into the Duchess.

"You're good." Krinal says before charging again. She picks the asari up by the neck, "Do want to know why the protheans were here?" The Duchess is thrown into the middle. "The protheans once studied many races before their civilisations began, but believe that their wildlife would be okay to take. They were primitive like you."

"Yet you build a tower for them?" the Duchess says before being pushed back more.

"This tower is mine! My right! My destiny! I had plans for this place but it wasn't to be. Now I have what need to continue my work. I will unite the Terminus under my banner and this tower will be its Captial." She shouts.

"The Terminus Systems will not obey a freak of nature!" she says attempting to push but is blocked by a barrier.

"I'm a freak? I don't come from a race that relies upon other species to reproduce, and have gull to say that you are superior. Thousands of your asari bred with my acolytes, each one had secrets that I extracted and they knew many things, except this location. Originally I wondered why but now I know. The inner circle are the only ones who knew Scythe was underneath this place. I know you're not indoctrinated either, that's to lame an excuse. You claimed Athame was here while hiding secrets for millennia only I knew everything." Krinal says before grabbing the Duchess and lifting her up against. "What do you have to say to that?" The Duchess doesn't speak and knows the reasons for her actions, power, just anyone else. She wasn't indoctrinated as everyone believed.

Krieg, Rhea and INC wait in the hanger bay with two aliens in full armour while INC is placed on Krieg's back, unorthodox but more suitable for this mission. Ecroy is opening the cage to Old Xalath. The Rough-Rider is already fitted with a mount and the krogan rears the creature in and Rhea is the first to climb aboard. Krieg is second and places himself behind the asari while they both grab the reins attached to its jaw and neck and get comfortable. The pair is joined by Brutagus, All-Feather and Chek.

"Look after him, Krieg. Tovoh hopes for him back in one piece." Ecroy says as they feel the ships entering the atmosphere.

"Don't worry. If he's good as Tovoh's guy claimed then he'll find you." he jokes before looking at Chek, "You Okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just thinking about home that's all. Difan, Mehoa, Zeki, even the runt. I'm thinking about father, I don't want to fail him." Chek states before shaking both their hands in respect.

Rhea looks back to Krieg, "We'll be back right?"

Krieg kisses her on the check, "Sure." He looks to All-Feather and speaks in his language then nods to Brutagus as a natural understanding of what he wants the turian to do after the mission is done.

The ship is within the atmosphere heading north across the ocean towards the most northern continent. While they rest of the crew step back as the ramp opens and reveals the ocean surface, both Krieg and Rhea prepare themselves for be dropped though the asari isn't exactly enjoying the aspect of the landing. The visual changes from the water to the beaches before nearing the grassy plain, perfect for them but the closer they can get the shorter the journey. Before Rhea can breathe Krieg whips Old Xalath and the animal jumps out of the ship and onto the grassland without any fall, its thick paws keeping it balance. Krieg turns the animal around to watch the ship fly away over the expanse tundra forests of the northern continent..

"Guess we're on our own." Rhea says before turning to face the beauty that still covers the planet. "Which way is this place?"

"Its north, the same way as their going. INC said that the place we need to go is about thirty miles north east and the mountain range is beyond that. INC, what do your scan say?" Krieg asks.

The machine is placed on his back and scanning the area, "Processing: Local fauna detected on route and traces of an unknown presence. Theory: Lack of ruins on this island suggests no sentient life in this area."

"Well looks like we won't be having any trouble. You ready?" Krieg asks with Rhea turning around.

"Yeah. Let's do it." She says as Krieg starts the animal's organic engine and begins running across the plains towards the forest.

On the ship the other troops are preparing themselves. Their initial roles in the mission have changed since it's been established that Krinal has beat them to the Palace and so the krogan who were going to act as prisoners don their full armour that they brought and arm them themselves while passing weapons to the wisps. The former-Scythe commandos under Chavai are already armed though none of these three races are segregated and stand talking to each other like kin as their leaders enter the cargo hold.

Chavai looks around and watches the soldiers ready for battle and each squad has krogan for frontline assault, wisps for range and asari for biotic tactics. She turns to Brutagus and Ecroy ready to speak, "With Krieg and Rhea gone we need to destroy them obelisks. Where their heading is directly underneath one and from the scanners…Sintarrio's there."

"They'll know to stay quiet but how are we going to get past him?" Brutagus asks knowing the capabilities of the turian.

"Intel we gathered throughout our time here indicated that Sintarrio when alive was in relationship with your former-spectre." she reveals though the turian is aware. "We'll find her location and attack her somehow. Take attention away from that outpost and then strike."

"If I get into the Zenith I don't need to shut everything down." Chek states gaining their attention. "If I have time I could manually redirect some drones. It will save us getting too close to the Zenith itself and the Palace."

"Chek, use my quarters to hack into the Zenith. Start as soon as we're in range and keep all of us on an open line." she orders before looking to Ecroy. "Have you studied the terrain you going through?"

"The obelisk is open and if Krinal has sent forces it'll be a battle-zone. My guys will create the distraction for the wisps to shoot it?" the krogan states.

She looks to Brutagus, "What about you?"

"The southern obelisk is within a cavern while the top of mountain is exposed. I'll only need a few of your commandos and some wisps if everything goes to plan. Your target is a bit more difficult from I saw." the Spectre states.

"I know but the ledges facing it will give us an advantage. The wisps will be able to create a distraction for us while my commandos will take care of the forces. Capturing the obelisks is more important than instantly destroying them."

"Agreed, until we capture all four we don't destroy them." Ecroy says before joining the troops he will lead and briefs them.

Chavai looks at All-Feather and notices the quarian is praying rather than showing signs of nerves, "Is he okay?"

Brutagus shrugs, "Why don't you ask him."

Old Xalath is making good time and the mount for Krieg and Rhea has been useful even within the forests though the large trees prevent him from running as fast and has to navigate around the bark but follows the river coming from the nearby mountain range. The weather is overcast and snow seems apparent but this doesn't halt the pair as they continue riding in order to reach where they need to go. The pair passes over the river and stop for a second as the natural sounds of the fauna are dominating the tranquillity but these were alien, even for them.

Krieg looks around hoping to find the source of the noise but as of yet hasn't been able to pinpoint the location. "Something has the animals spooked. There could be a predator lurking here."

"Great." Rhea says while taking out her pistol just in case. "We've been riding for hours now, Xalath must be hungry."

Krieg sighs and gets down, "Well we did feed him well before leaving, but I suppose you're wright." He says leading the animal to the river and encouraging him to drink. "Good boy." The grey alien looks at the trees in hopes of finding what is out there though in the distance sees a mound of black covered partially in snow. He walks up to what the onject is and as he gets closer he moves it and finds a corpse, an asari Scythe trooper. He looks over to Rhea who just as confused. "Wonder what she was doing out here.

Rhea gets off Old Xalath and looks around feeling slightly on edge, "Creepy. This place feels strange like something has been watching us all the time."

Krieg looks around as well before letting INC off his back, "INC, scout the area and check it out." The drone leaves the two alone as Krieg puts his hands on her hips, "Hey, you looked spooked."

Rhea turns to him, "Something feels wrong about this place, its beauty, its lack of life despite what Chavai and INC said. It seems too convenient. I guess its hearing what the Scythe did to the people here. I think I'm just concerned."

"INC didn't find anything here that would know what we are doing. I wouldn't worry." Krieg says while crouching to the water and filling up his flask. "Besides if there were people here I would have known it."

A sound is heard from distance though it's brief and when the result is shown, Old Xalath jumps to his hind-legs while scramming out of shock more than pain as the two turn and see an arrow embedded in his right leg. Krieg pulls about his spear and Rhea her pistol again while looking around confused and bewildered. Krieg jumps into the stream when an arrow attempts to hit him again though Rhea shoots the area it came from and hears the should of footsteps running through the forest but where is unknown.

Krieg gets up and looks around to see what is attacking and considering the weaponry it must intelligent as he holds his spear and prepares himself. Rhea on the other hand is victim to the attacker as an arrow hits her in the right shoulder and she is knocked down. Despite the primitive weapon the arrow is well-made, almost like it was meant to break through advanced armour. Krieg runs to her and looks at the wound, the arrow pointing upwards and the asari screaming in pain.

"Rhea." Krieg says before hearing the footsteps again.

The attacker is mounted and the beast he rider is as native, with four legs and canine physiology though very hairy and ugly with a main on its back though some of it is invisible due to the saddle placed on it. The creature has huge ears and its teeth emit foam though its grey patterns are menacing to the pair as Krieg sits Rhea up and stands in front of her.

The rider itself is male in physiology though its frame is thin but tall. The flesh of the native is well hidden due to his armour which from the look of it is a mixture of primitive alloys and leathers to that found on modern manufacturers and hides to him warm. The helmet is iron-made and has two eye-holes while below are teeth from a dead animal protruding upwards while towards the top of his head are what could described as ears of brown colour pointing backwards, hair on the back of them with a spotted pattern.

The armour covers the legs and torso with a breast plate of cast-iron while the leather on his stomach, thighs and boots keeps the body flexible. The upper arms are also visible and the yellowish brown skin has the same pattern as the ear though fainter and covered in tattoos of his own language.

The weaponry of this attacker is in fact a mix of old and new as he does carry a pistol, specifically one made by the scythe on his right hip while on the left hip he has a long knife and in his left hand is the weapon responsible for Rhea's injury. The bow is wooden but has some technology built into the grip to make it more durable and also accurate as he pulls another arrow from his quiver attached to his mount and pull the string ready to fire.

Krieg looks at the native and drops his spear knowing that moving will harm his lover a puts his hands up, "Please, don't kill us. We're travellers. Can you understand?"

The native tilts his head while loosening the arrow a little "You speak the language of the demons? Few do." a whispering voice says while still pointing at the asari. "You are not one of them. You do not have the body."

"The body? A female body?" Krieg asks believing that his male frame may have something to do with this. He turns to Rhea who is holding her wound, "He must mean you."

"Yes, demon. Must be killed, the tower people are our bane." the native states referring to something familiar.

"The prothean tower?" Rhea wonders though is still in pain.

The native is jilted by the name, "Yes. But it is not called that anymore." The native jumps of his mount and puts the bow back on the side of his beast. "You are not from here."

"No, we're not. We're here because we're going to destroy the asari in it." Krieg says before taking his helmet off and revealing his face.

The native steps back as if he recognises what is front of him, "Please, I apologise." He looks down in shame though confuses the pair, "If I saw your face I would not have attacked."

Krieg looks at Rhea confused before walking up to the native, "You know me?"

"Of you. It was prophesied by the machine you would come." he says before looking at Rhea. "I will tend to her if you wish."

"If you would." Krieg says before the native walks over to Rhea and pulls out the arrow causing her to scream.

Chavai's ship is far north of the encounter with the native and as they near the obelisk they see exactly what they have to shut down. The obelisk is two coils wrapped around each other and glowing though its silver alloy and below its position both asari and drones are fighting each other for control of the outpost. The target is lodged into the mountain and looked stable though after 50000 years it has been affected slightly by the natural habitat.

Inside, the first of the teams are preparing themselves under All-Feather. The quarian knows it will be cold and puts on his cloak with the feathers and will give him camouflage in the snow and rocky peaks. In a few minutes the ship lands near a cliff-face far from the battle and the quarians, krogan and asari exit the hull of the ship and head to the location immediately.

Ecroy watches from the bridge before walking with Likosh and Brutagus, "All is good so far but you will be dealing with Sintarrio himself. Hold back and survive while Chek hacks into the Zenith. When we get the turian out of the way then go for the target."

Likosh nods. "Let's just hope their up to it. Chek has the worst job I fear, he's been working an hour straight to break through the firewalls. We should have had INC do it."

"Krieg said it was a risk and he was most likely wright." Ecroy says. "I'm being dropped next, Likosh lead them well. Prove your worth." he orders before shaking his hand and knocking heads in respect before looking to the Spectre. "Agon spoke highly of you, he was wright."

"Well when met it was exactly comfortable but it's nice to fight for something good." he says before letting the krogan leave.

On the ground, All-Feather and his squad are running up the mountain pass with the obelisk only briefly visible. Krinal is prepared for such interferences as spider-drones crawl down the mountain walls and attempt to jump towards the group. Each of them has their own methods for dealing with such mechanical creatures as the asari use their biotics and the wisps are precise in their targeting while the krogan are more willing to let jump onto them and use their sheer strength to throw them off the cliff. The leader however knows that this is just as distraction and signals the group to carry on forwards towards where they need to go and with haste, the quarian looks at the target from the mountain edge.

The battlefield is brutal and the drones have the upper hand as varieties of all kinds use their benefits to take on the asari. The common drones tend to work in pairs or groups while spider-drones act as waves to take down multiple asari and over-whelm them. Tri-Drones are used in a much heavier fashion, knocking unsuspected Scythe away from its path while certain units attached to exoskeletons are able to fight one-on-one.

All-Feather looks through his scope to see the obelisk's entrance is the most defensible position currently under the asari control as they shoot down from a balcony that can only be accessed via an elevator below and the drones are attempting to scale it. He orders the asari to enter the battlefield as they wear the same armour but work on a different frequency in order to get to the entrance quicker. They avoid their former allies who don't notice who they are while krogan begin taking their heavy weapons and preparing to create a much bigger distraction. The grenade launchers fire onto the battlefield and Chavai's troops know they have only a short time to get through. This draws attention to the krogan who begin retreating while All-Feather and the wisps begin scaling the nearby edge in order to get closer to the obelisk.

Chavai's commandos have reached the elevator though not without some casualties and now have to hold the position until they can continue. The Scythe above doesn't recognise them and protect them while the wisps fire their pistols and swing from the wires. As soon as a wisp is near the elevator control, she operates them for the commandos and when they are raised she shuts it down again. All-Feather now signals the next step as they enter the building and begin taking the obelisk, the third party benefiting from the other two.

Rhea sits on a log and her arm is slung with a cloth while Krieg sits next to her with his hand in hers. INC is also present and has itself planted next to Rhea while the native that attacked but is now hospitable is throwing a log on the fire he has made. The native hasn't taken of his helmet to reveal what is underneath but they can both see up close that his eyes have Hugh green iris' and the pupul is the same. The native sits down and takes his pistol and knife out.

The native then takes his helmet off to reveal his face. The face is humanoid though the eyes are slightly bigger than others and his green eyes make it seem he could pinpoint any target. The skin is rough though his nose is small and flat at the tip while he shows and shows the two incisors that replace his front molars. His facial hair is but only on the end of his chin, braded while his head hair is the same colour as his ears which drapes to his shoulders. The colour fades onto his cheeks and the middle of his nose. His ears however remain above and point backwards though with his helmet off they raise a little.

"My name is Panool." the native says introducing himself.

"You're speaking an asari dialect. How did you learn it?" Rhea wonders as the native is speaking the tongue will without auto-translation.

"Demon…asari tongues are common here now. The clans here have dealings with them from time to time." he states.

"You're tribal?" Rhea wonders about this native life-form.

"The females are, males, no." he says leaving it ambiguous.

Krieg leans back before speaking, "Females? What do you do then if you're…not part of any clan?"

"I wander to lands, hunting, surviving, and breeding. It is our way." he says before taking out a paper map and giving it to them. It has locations of populated areas on this continent alone. "I marked where the noise of ship went and followed you this day. I thought you were one of the demons coming to hunt us."

"Why do call us demons?" Rhea wonders as the alien as a tendency call them such a thing.

"Because they ruined us. We were once as glorious as them but they betrayed us many generations ago." he claims though it would mean they were once a spacefaring species.

"Generations? These must be the civilisation Chavai mentioned." Krieg says looking at the map and the notes in his language. "What's the name of your people?"

Panool thinks hard due to not having to refer to their name in long time, "We had many names like most, but I believe we were once called Lierchar."

"No, that can't be wright." Rhea rebukes while looking at Krieg. "They're extinct, killed by the rachni."

"You know who he is talking about?" Krieg looks at his machine, "INC, can you shed some light?"

"Information: The Lierchar were a race that existed in the galaxy from the early Council Era to the Rachni Wars. Lierchar forces made up a bulk of the Council's initial army before being completely decimated by the Rachni and their homeworld was destroyed when a meteor was forced upon it. All remaining members of the race died out approximately fifty-seven years later."

"Yes. This is one of the planets we discovered and now serves as our prison." Panool states before looking at the map and pointing to where the Palace is located.

"A lost colony all the way out here? Was it the tower that brought you here?" Rhea asks curious about this lost species.

"Originally we found it but then the asari were already there. According to our history, males and females were of same amount but no more. They changed us." he reveals though very sad at this disposition.

"A bioweapon maybe? Like the Genophage, only it distorts the gender ratio instead of sterilizing them." Krieg theories though leans in and puts forward another. "So that's why your females are not with you, because you're rare and you need to diverse?"

He puts his hand up in protect, "Uncommon, not rare. Males are born but my people estimate one in fourteen. I was on my way to the eastern city before I found you. You are more important."

"You said a machine? Was it Scythe?" Krieg asks hoping for answers. "That machine is going to destroy that tower."

"Yes. The tower shouldn't be there and it wants it gone." the alien says with enthusiasm. "It said you would do it and free us."

Rhea whispers to Krieg, "Free them? It's a reaper programme. It must have an ulterior motive."

"You might be wright." Krieg looks at the native confused, "How does machine know who I am?"

"I do not know but legends say it found your tomb but then we lost it to hide you. I can take you to the pass where the machine waits, sleeps." he reveals showing his uses.

"We need to get there. Do you know the way?" Rhea asks though only with slight trust.

He nods, "I do. It is about a half day's trip north. If we start soon, we'll be there by nightfall but we'll have to go near the Demonlands."

On the battlefields north, Sintarrio is firing its weaponry towards the incoming squads lead by Brutagus and Ecroy. The two were ordered to survive while Chek attempts to hack into the system and endanger the Zenith. The pair and their squad can't get a target on the turian as it flies through the cave partings quickly before landing on the ground and joining the battlefield of Scythe and drones again. Brutagus looks at him through his scope though the group are still stuck within the caverns of this area and looking down on the closed battle with Sintarrio being the key to getting the upper hand."

"Come in! Brutagus! It's Chek, all drops have been successful and I'll try to hack the systems of the Zenith more quickly now."

Brutagus holds his visor, "Be fast about it. We need something to draw Sintarrio away otherwise we'll be stuck."

In the captain's quarters of the Scythe ship, Chek is opening a screen in order to hack into the systems and begins immediately. The quarian is fast and knows exactly what he's doing yet the firewalls of the Zenith are able to self-repair themselves with the addition of Scythe's interference. It takes time though Chek finds an opening and is inside the Zenith's mainframe.

"Okay, I'm in. Tell me what I should do?"

"Hack into their drones, try turning them against Juna." the turian orders and the quarians types into the console with haste before reaching a dead end.

"No good, the drones are like Geth, they work well in groups and their intelligence increases. The drones on the battlefield work as a team but each has an independent hub. I'll have to hack their defences instead…wait."

"What is it?" Brutagus shouts under heavy fire.

"There is a shield similar to the one that the obelisks emit. It defends the Zenith against Scythe taking it over it. If I shut down the shield! The Zenith will be taken over!" Chek realises beginning the process. "It may take a while. Can you survive a bit longer?"

"Sure, no problem." Brutagus shouts though sarcastically.

On the other end of the channel, Brutagus and Likosh break cover when a loose drone attacks. The krogan grabs one of the tentacles while Brutagus shoots but they both have left their position and caught the eye of Sintarrio. The turian absorbs some drones to transform into his more devastating form and leaps towards the pair. He kicks Likosh away before Brutagus fires his rifle but has no affect. Likosh pulls out a knife similar to All-Feather's sabre and charges. The machine-turian anticipates and moves before scissor-tripping the large alien and stands on his hands before springing back onto his feet and looking at Brutagus.

"It seems you're losing?" he says before attempting release a particle bean from his palm and Brutagus covers behind a rock. "You're only delaying the inevitable."

Brutagus coughs heavily and realises his sickness is beginning to kick in as he takes out a knife like Ecroy's and throws it at Sintarrio, hitting the thigh. Like All-Feather did before him it cuts through his synthetic skin and he screams in pain before the alive turan takes out the blade and slices him across the chest. Sintarrio recovers before stopping the next attack and with one arm throws the turian on his back and puts his foot on his neck.

"Got it!" Chek shouts and as Brutagus look ups he sees Sintarrio make a face of confusion.

Chek watches from the window as the mound of dirt with machine within begins to crawl on the Zenith. The tentacles are the first to leave the sight of Krinal who sees it from below in the throne room where she has the Duchess by the neck and can't believe what is happening. She lets go of her near-dead enemy and looks down to see her flagship being eaten away.

"Sintarrio! Get back here, now!" she shouts but the damage is already done.

On the plains south of their location though nearer Brutagus' and Likosh's position, Krieg and Rhea ride Old Xalath with INC hovering behind them and they follow Panool on his mount. The group are passing through the last of the forests into more open plains only these were of higher altitude and are covered in tundra. They follow the native of this land across though keeping up is problem as Old-Xalath is bulkier than but not as stream-lined as Panool's mount.

Krieg leans in so he can speak to Rhea, "What do think of this?"

"I don't know. It seems impossible. The Lierchar are dead and everyone knows it. I'm just wondering what will happen if the Council found out." Rhea says thinking about the consequences.

"I don't think it's worth telling them to be honest. If they knew this was a former colony and what the Scythe have done, then asari could be in trouble with the other two races." Krieg says.

Panool turns. "The entrance is between the mountains!" he leads the pair towards the mountainous region that would be the battleground for the Emissary's and the Duchess' forces. The pair of beasts begin galloping up the incline of the world yet as they do they see the sun is almost set and would have to rely on another method of vision as their helmets switch so they can see while the native isn't as fussed and knows where he is going.

Hours pass and the destination they are looking for is huge and from the outside look stable as the huge passageway is more reminiscing to crater than a cave with the rock caving into the structure rather than it naturally occurring. When both Krieg and Rhea look though their helmets, they're amazed at the scale as it had to have been fifty metres in diameter alone. The cave faces a large rocky plain that houses a maze of streams that would lead to the river they passed but the moons light gives off a glittering effect and the pair cross them with ease before Panool halts and they do the same.

He turns his mount towards them, "This is the cave. You'll find what you're looking for in there but word is many asari are lying dead in there from trying to find it, some of my kind as well."

Rhea looks up at the size and sees that light won't be an issue for them as the blue crystals seem to act as a path way, "What happened here originally?"

"Our last great battle before many men were killed. The asari released their curse not long after." he says before looking to Krieg. "The news of your arrival needs to be shared. I am heading to the settlement back southeast and will inform them of you."

"Okay. Thank you." Krieg says before watching Panool rides from where he came. "He wasn't so bad?"

"If you don't count the arrow in my shoulder." Rhea says before Old Xalath is led inside of the cave and the quest for answers begins.

The caverns are huge but the not as much as the impact entrance though signs of an organic presence are visible with old machines both asari and of the original race are present here though from their make and by their size, they're thousands of years old. Among these constructs are the skeletons of both races as the battle that was waged he was brutal. The body count is in the thousands though the majority are of the natives rather than asari as the pair and INC walk through before seeing an opening and from what they can gather is an altar. This apparatus is circular and has no buttons whatsoever though the design is distinctly prothean. Krieg gets off Old Xalath and Rhea follows him while the mount remains clam and docile as the lighting of the cave keeps it from becoming anxious.

"This is it?" Rhea says unimpressed while she and Krieg standing on the altar. A screen open and scans the pair before the altar push upwards and catches them off guard as they fall but keep still on the ground of this artefact and INC is knocked by the structure, lying on its shell.

Krieg sits up and sees they are about to hit the ceiling of the cave but as he holds Rhea the, the rocks part ways and they enter another cave. This however was more familiar as the walls had pipes and tubes pumping blue-coloured energy through while circular discs with glow blue centres appear everywhere, giving the impression they are eyes. "What the fuck?"

Rhea holds her arm and refits her sling before feeling the ground shake again and through the cracks of the floor tentacles break through. These are small and whip-like, moving fluidly. They are a blackish-grey with blue lighting in parting when they move. Krieg takes out his spear though the tentacles retract by leaning away, as if they are frightened. The pair looks upward when the eyes of the room glow and scan the pair once again.

"Welcome." a voice with male and female tones says.

Krieg looks around hears the sounds coming from all tentacles, "It's you. You're Scythe?"

"If that is name wish to give, I will respond. It is pleasure to meet you both after all this time. I hear the world above talk of you as if you are people to be punished, to be damned. This is not so and I apologise for errors I have caused. You wonder why I call you, what I need, how I am?"

"You're a reaper, I know that. Or you're what's left of one." Krieg speaks softly.

"Not a Reaper. The shell-form is limited; I am tranquil here, watching life instead of commanding it."

"Watching? No, you're influencing those asari above you and causing something on this planet?" Krieg points out though the silence of accusation questions the validity. "Who are aligned with?"

"I have no alignment anymore. My kind had forsaken me when my parent-body was destroyed but I survived through pieces, one of them found this world to hide, endure. In the time I've been here I have been alone, transforming this world to become a true garden for creatures, a Sanctuary. But there are a few who wish my talents for their own means."

"A few?" Rhea says not understanding.

"The protheans trapped me here in this spot and built the monstrosity above, now my body is nothing more than a tool for them."

"Someone called Krinal is using you, but what for?" Krieg asks crossing his arms.

"The team of protheans thought that with my knowledge of the reapers, they could destroy them. They built the obelisks and the tower without even attempting to consult with me. Either way I don't have an answer that would suffice. The one called Krinal headed the project and if what you say is true then she is hoping to finish her work. The reapers are powerful and evolve with every cycle; their advantages are unknown to me now."

"Krinal wants to destroy the reapers? She was serving Nazara." Rhea says unable to believe it.

"Nazara, the programme is familiar. That must be the one in charge of my demise. The prothean may have believed she can outwit the reapers or perhaps they've abandoned her."

"What about the asari, and the Lierchar?" Krieg asks hoping for more.

"The asari were here first here but kept their presence unseen while the Lierchar colonised the world. For hundreds of years the asari would scheme in the tower and alter the population. Using a well-manifested prototype they cause genetic abnormalities in the developmental system of females, making males hard to breed in order to preserve some but not all. May I ask what of the Lierchar off world?"

"They're extinct?" Rhea states.

"Both unfortunate and fortunate. The Lierchar have a genetic structure capable of making a reaper but their breeding ratio makes them useless to the Collectors."

"The Collectors?" Rhea asks knowing of them.

"Pawns of the reapers, formerly protheans. I know this due to the information stored in the archives within the tower. The fate is worse than becoming a reaper. The asari believe this world will protect them as it did those after the genocide."

"Wait, those protheans are still alive, or survived?" Rhea asks hoping for an answer.

"That is beyond my reach. My presence here allows the planet to be shielded from the reapers detection and the asari are attempting to replicate it. They use the reaper to hide their true purpose while manipulating the galaxy to their will. "

"They're supremacists but also obsessed with survival. They may have altered the Lierchar to sustain the population after the genocide." Says before

"What about me? How am I linked to this?" Krieg asks frustrated.

"You are not, in any shape or form. I knew of you but not you creator, you parents, anything. You have no analogue I recognise nor can I determine you birth. If this is what you seek then it in vain."

"Then what do you want we me?" Krieg shouts and causes the tentacles flicker.

"I intended to use you to destroy the asari and it's evil though they had found you before I could arrange anything to stop them. I decided it best to send the signal to open your tomb early. The only command I gave was to exchange information on how to communicate with the nearest life-form, the one who stands with you."

Krieg looks at Rhea and then at the ground before turning back, "You were using me? That's all? Shit! Then what about these mutations, how come I'm cursed with them?"

As silence is heard though like before it a sign of confusion, "Mutation? No, that which you have gained was predetermined. The cells that have changed your appearance and behaviour are due to the biotic energy inside you. Unlike asari you do not need an amp because you brain has an organic equivalent funnelling your power. The mutations are protecting you every time you use your power, making you stronger though I cannot determine the limit."

Krieg turns to Rhea in confusion, "This doesn't make any sense. The pain I felt, it wasn't wright. I was meant to feel like this? What was I meant to do?" He then widens his eyes, "Yenea, she doesn't have them." Krieg looks to Rhea though her face is not one of surprise, "You knew?"

The grey alien approaches her, "Krieg, I didn't tell you-"

"You knew all this time and you didn't tell me? Answer me!" he shouts at her with anger, rage and feelings of betrayal.

Rhea feels his breath on her and she knows that he is owed an explanation but this doesn't stop her from starting to tear, "Krieg…I knew but I'm trying to fix it. Arakon noticed from samples he took and I got it confirmed by someone else. I didn't want to hurt!"

She stops and feels Krieg grab her by the throat and brings her to her knees as the grey alien's eyes glow in anger again though he is just as upset and emotionally unstable as her, "I show you what hurt is."


	50. Operation Uprising: Part III & Epilogue

**Chapter XLX: Operation Uprising: Part III/Epilogue**

**01/11/2165- Sanctuary, Bliss System, Unknown Cluster**

Krieg looks down on Rhea as he holds her neck and she is on her knees. The grey alien is experiencing a betrayal very poorly though Rhea didn't intend for it to be this way. He is hesitant as he knows that through his short existence Rhea has always been there and truly loves him, and he for her. However the fact that his daughter was in danger because she doesn't have what he does is hard for him to accept as well as the fact Scythe, who is watching this moment hasn't the answers he seeks either. He breathes heavily and contemplates his actions though before he can act a small tentacle wraps around his neck and pulls him back with Rhea following.

Krieg looks up and Rhea on the floor holding her neck and crying but is surprised to see who is hovering in front of him. INC had saved Rhea from Krieg and Krieg from himself as the former drone approaches, "Admittance: I cannot allow you to make yet another mistake, Krieg. This action is rash and idiotic considering she is the women you claim to love."

Krieg holds his neck and look at Rhea holding hers, "Rhea?" Rhea looks up at him though is scared like she was when she first met him. As he stands up and attempts to walk towards her, she crawls back nervous and fearful. Krieg knows he has gone too far but his guilt is too overwhelming and watches as she allows INC to raise her to her feet. "Rhea…why didn't you tell me?"

Rhea looks away shamefully, "This isn't how I wanted it. I've spent nearly ten years avoiding what I was afraid of and then it happens. I love you, Krieg. But I didn't want to see you angry again like you are now. Yenea means everything to you and made you feel like you're not alone in the world. I was lonely like you and when you were gone I realised that I was missing something. I just wanted you be happy, with nothing to worry about."

The grey alien ponders on her words as he looks towards the ceiling hoping for an answer, "How do I end this. If you can't tell me how, I'll do it."

Scythe speaks, "I never witnessed such companionship, especially of this calibre. To witness love is strange, knowing that it's impossible for me to have. You can't help me but there is a risk. I can transport you to the tower; my knowledge of this world will take straight there."

"Take me and I'll finish what was started fifty-thousand years ago. My allies are destroying the obelisks but I want Krinal dead for certain." Krieg says as he looks to an opening forming though it leads to a dead end, "What is this?"

"The way I can transport you is through the earth. To you it will be like riding currents but if the obelisks are destroyed, the area will become unstable. My programme allows me to absorb the data and structure, becoming a part of me. If you enter the building, you will be trapped." Scythe explains meaning it's a one-way trip.

Rhea looks to Krieg and knows even as he is facing away, he is contemplating going, "Krieg, it's not worth it. We only need to destroy the obelisks, nothing else."

Krieg turns and faces her. He approaches her one more times and strokes her cheek before giving her a long kiss and she returns it though when she opens her eyes she feels something trapping her inside though can't explain it. The grey alien is using one of his more obscure powers as he walks back with hand up and forces Rhea to stand still on the altar the came in from. "Take care of Yenea." Scythe obeys the silent command and the altar is pushed back down to where Old Xalath stands waiting for one of his two handlers.

Rhea is released from the field and looks up as she moves further away from her lover, "Krieg! Don't go! I love you! I love you!" These are the last words her lover hears before the ceiling closes and she lands on ground alone with the Rough-Rider approaching her, wanting direction. The asari looks at the beast and gets upon it and rides fast as she heads from where they came only. The determination to find Krieg is back and she won't lose him again as she fears nothing and rides faster with Old Xalath pushing himself harder and harder before they see the light of the morning sky.

When she exits she halts the beast as the sight in front of her is one she now fears and is astounded by. Lierchar had arrived quickly from the nearest settlement and this band is in the hundreds. Like Panool states most of these aliens are female and wear armour with symbols of their clans while tidy and clean, coloured to differentiate. All of them wear masks to inspire fear as they point their weapons, ranging from bows to rifles stolen from Scythe all pointing in her direction. Rhea feels the end is nigh.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

Joker has listened to this story and how a single asari had become something from what she was before. He leans back and drinks his coffee while Zeki and Ecroy sit with them. Ecroy sees it as a day he doesn't want to remember as a lot happened he didn't want to. Rhea lights another cigarette and inhales and when ready breath out she sighs at the same time.

"I never saw him after that day." she admits while standing. "I'm going to get changed."

Joker watches her leave and looks to the other two, "Did he really do that to her?"

Zeki nods, "It was her last moment with him. It's a shame but I guess sometimes we don't have happy endings."

Joker looks to Ecroy, "So what happened to Krieg, to everybody?"

Ecroy looks to Zeki, "Should we show him?"

Zeki sighs before thinking about it and nods as the two lead the human into the lounge are and switch on the screen, "We found out what happened with Krieg thanks to INC. It began a video log not long after in order to chronicle Krieg's last moments." she states before turning to the screen, "Activate: INC File."…

**01/11/2165- Sanctuary, Bliss System, Unknown Cluster**

"INC…is it on?" Krieg asks as the machine is filming Krieg while still inside Scythe's chamber.

"Affirmative. Query: Why did you do that to Rhea?" the machine asks watching the grey alien and hovering as they walk to the dead end ready to travel to the Palace.

"I had to. I couldn't let her follow me and know she wouldn't survive. Something just told me to do it, like I wasn't thinking. If you can escape INC, show her this so she understands. I didn't want to hurt her but I have no choice. I must face Krinal alone and make sure it ends or at least halts something worse. I hope one day you'll understand why I did this, INC. I love her, but she must carry on, build something from the ashes, an army or an organisation and lead it. I know she can do it. It's just an idea." He says before looking up and nodding, "Let's go."

Outside the cave entrance the snow is falling softly and chill in the air is felt as Rhea stands in front of a race thought dead holding their weapons ready to kill her. She hears a voice in the middle speaking a dead language and stopping people from firing upon her as Panool is present along with other males who wear similar attire and are spread among the hundreds of females. He climbs the small ledge and looks up to Rhea confused.

"Where is the grey one?" he asks.

Rhea looks down. "It's taken him to the prothean ruin." she reveals though with a heavy heart that is on verge of shattering.

"He's going to destroy it?" the native says before shouting and his mount runs through the crowd to meet him. He speak a few words and looks over towards the back where from the look of the armour and mounts they sit upon are the clan leaders who talk amongst themselves before one nods. "The clans will not kill you. They're going to head through up the mountains and aide your allies. I can take you to the tower but it'll take a few hours."

"What's the point? It'll be destroyed by then." she says giving up on him.

Panool is confused, "Something tells me you don't believe that." He sees Rhea look up with once again a determined face ready for anything.

Chavai's ship is nearing the tower and from the visual the whole building has been engulfed by Scythe and has passed onto the Zenith which is now stuck with Juna trapped inside. The former-spectre has no control of the situation and looks around hoping for a way to escape but the darkness that has been created is far from safe as she heads down the elevator hoping to find her way out. Outside Sintarrio is standing on the Zenith attempting to crack the crust open but each time he shoot it down with his palms, the rock recovers over the damaged area. This leave him distraught and helpless to save the one he loves while inside the Palace itself, Krinal stands with her arms cross and the Duchess is lying on the ground, now dead from her wounds.

Within Chavai's ship, Chek looks from bridge at the success they've gained and is currently looking for anything useful to inform the teams about, "Hey, Chavai. The virus worked. The Zenith is immobile for now but I would destroy these obelisks."

"We're almost there. Brutaugs and Likosh are still having trouble since Sintarrio left and Ecroy and All-Feather are waiting. I'll post you if anything happens in the next half-hour."

"Okay." Chek waits before the ship jolts for a second, "What was that?" A second jolt causes a screen to appear in order for the quarian to see from INC's eyes as Scythe has linked the drone and the ship to inform them on their progress. "Krieg?"

The grey alien stands in a hole at the very bottom of the Palace and Scythe was true to its word as he and INC look up and see the hundreds of floors the structure has and knows it will take hours to get up there. He can hear the sound of screams from the asari above as the husks continue their rampage and the earth engulfing the structure has cause debris to fall down. Krieg takes his spear out and looks at INC as the drone places itself on his back in order to join him on his quest.

"Scythe, can you take us up?"

"Only so far. My reach only extends to approximately thirteen floors. I detect the use of dragon's teeth but if your allies can destroy the obelisks I may be able to reach further. Communication is limited though I have transmitted a live visual feed into the ship you came in."

Chek knows what this is about and opens the channel, "Ecroy, All-Feather. Destroy the obelisks now. Krieg can get through the tower if you do. Brutagus, destroy it when there."

"Well do!" Ecroy shouts as he orders the soldiers to carry out the order and All-Feather can be heard doing the same.

Krieg crosses his arms and waits as Scythe pushes a self-made alter for Krieg to stand on and he climbs on it as the grey alien ascends into the Palace. He looks around as on every floor he pass he sees Scythe trooper fighting husks of all varieties though knows that he shouldn't involve in such a hellish conflict. He ducks when a Cannibal fires its arm at him though pulls the husk off the balcony with his biotics and continues. A sudden jolt from the structure causes him to hold the ground and it is followed by a second.

"What happened?"

"Answer: Two of the obelisks have been destroyed. Scythe will be able to push you further above." INC reveals as the machine that is a part of the planet pushes faster and higher than before, regaining its power.

Chek stands on the bridge watching as Krieg fights and keeps communication with the others. He looks at the map to see the north and east obelisks have been destroyed and the Chavai is ready to destroy hers. Within seconds he watches it disappear, leaving only the southernmost obelisk left and on the other side of that channel Brutagus can be heard fighting.

Krieg looks as he goes higher and higher and the grey alien is now nearing the top despite it only being minutes since he was at the bottom. "Why have we stopped?"

"Answer: The Southern Obelisk remains. Suggestion: it may be wise to fight our way up from here instead of standing in vulnerable position."

Krieg looks to the nearest platform and sees only husks standing over dead asari, waiting for him. INC removes itself from his back readies its turrets and Krieg smiles before jumping toward the husks, shouting and throwing a shockwave to clear the path ahead.

Hours have gone by and no change though Rhea rides hard following Panool over the mountain passes. The two of them are nearing where Brutagus and Likosh are meant to be and see that obelisk still stands due to the light its emits and gives some hope for Rhea as she rides across the mountain pass with her pistol in hand and shoots whatever is in her way. Straggler drones have recognised a potential threat though it is those on the exoskeletons that pose the biggest problem as they run fast and can scale the side of the cliff with ease. Rhea sees one near her and shoots it though it is too fast but when she steady's her riding she fires between the three eyes it falls on the ground breaking apart. Panool however has different methods as he takes bolas weapon and throws it at the skeleton, trapping its feet and causing it to fall.

Rhea turns, "Come on! We're almost there!" she shouts as they see the battle is still raging.

The caverns in which Rhea can only see from the outside are fall of drones still, reinforcements due to the other obelisks failing and therefore are protecting the last one with fall force. Brutagus is within the crowds and he and Likosh along with the remaining members of the team are shooting their way through on a suicide run. Rhea knows that if she can get there first she can save Krieg and he can still fight Krinal.

Krinal waits in the throne room looking down on her failure with regret and anger as this had been planning for years and now it has crumbled due to what she thought was rightfully hers. The sound of fighting is heard behind her as a vorcha husk is thrown into the room and while on the ground receives a spear, Krieg spear through its chest. The female grey alien turns as the first of her kind from an unknown place, time and origin looks at her with battle in his eyes.

She retracts her helmet to face him in person, "Well done. You've fucked up my plan, my legacy, my work. This could have been yours, Krieg. A weapon to dominate the fools who call themselves civilised. Me, you, we're meant to be gods."

"Is that what it's all about? Power? You knew Scythe wanted to use me but I fell into you're plan." Krieg asks her hoping for the truth.

"When I found out what you were, I knew that I needed to have you. The perfect weapon, the perfect piece in this fucked up puzzle. The protheans were weak, that's why I was a machine all those years, to understand what a reaper feels. The problem always was that if you learn too much then you fear what you have. I person called Soeheid told me that… I miss him. Like him, I found out that even reapers have a boogieman of their own, something so powerful and apart of them that if we resist, we doom ourselves. Scythe knows this and that's why it protects this world. Its compassion is in vain." she says before smiling. "Are you going to kill me now?"

Krieg smiles, "Yes." With that, Krieg attempts a charge though Krinal stops him when he phases back into solid form and wraps the long fingers around him, like she would have if she had her way.

Krinal's thumbs extend and position the male's face and she smiles before kissing him, something she has always wanted before throwing him back and letting him stand. Krieg wipes his mouth like he had kissed a varren and is victim to a biotic push into the main foyer. He stands and readies himself as Krinal carries herself with her long fingers, springing towards him and kicking him back again. Her thumbs extend and wrap around his legs so she can swing him into the wall. Krieg however creates a barrier to protect him but it only works a few times before landing on the ground and helpless.

She smiles, "You have no use to me now." Krieg charges when the fingers attempt to grab him and holds his position. He looks towards the opening to the throne room and pulls his spear back to him in order to fight.

Chek is watching on the screen and the other asari are as well though INC has hidden itself from fray knowing its Krieg's battle. The quarian looks at the map and sees that the southern outpost still stands and looks towards the pilot. "Let's go to the southern Obelisk and destroy it. Krieg needs as much help as he can get." he orders and the ship turns around and leaves the pair to fight.

Rhea and Panool reach the entrance to the caverns and the pair ride over dozens of drones that had fallen to the asari. The mounts they are using and the light from the opening are enough for the two to navigate the still on-going battle. Krinal's forces are still high here and the group sent to destroy the obelisk isn't gaining ground as quick as they though. Likosh shoots down two drones and an asari while Brutagus and a wisp run ahead hoping to get through the barrier of machines and aliens. No one has any knowledge of Chek's plan to destroy the obelisk from the air as they all continue rushing towards the goal. Brutagus and Lioksh wish to destroy it as planned but Rhea is adamant in stopping them.

The asari and her new companion reach a ledge to join the main fray and as she climbs the ledge, Old Xalath runs back, abandoning her. Panool turns confused though looks up at the asari as the alien takes his pistol and points it towards the incoming drones. Rhea leaves him to fight and pulls out her pistol again so that she can defend herself though her plan was to avoid all obstacles in her way, including her allies. Seeing a possible shortcut though covered in fighting factions, Rhea attempts something she has never done though has saw her lover do it numerous times. She runs towards the bridge and readies herself as she biotically charges through the asari and the drones before making it to the other side in one piece, amazed at herself.

Krieg and Krinal are still fighting after an hour and the pair has torn the room apart as bits of metal have fallen and markings on the wall indicate the pair has been using their biotics as much as they can. Krinal throws him with her fingers and towards the throne room again in hope that she can kill him quickly and off guard. Krieg however uses his sleeves to create concussion beam and knocks her back so he can recover.

Krinal has no such weapon to counter and is more cautious as he approaches her. She is waiting for him to slip like he has already though it has been last minute counters that have kept Krieg alive. She throws her hand and the fingers extend but Krieg uses his biotic charge to dodge left, right and right again. The use of this power is running low however and he is almost finished in terms of actual energy though has time to leap back and pick up his spear and get back into his stance.

Krinal gives up and retracts her fingers, "Why do fight, Krieg? There is nothing for you now. It's obvious we're going to die here yet you still fight. I thought it may have occurred to you to give up on me and save yourself."

"I am here on my own choosing." Krieg says standing tall though hold his stomach. "Knowing you'll be gone is everything I need."

"What about our legacy? She's called Yenea from I here and you by coming here have made her an orphan. We could've been a family." she says disappointed and even heartbroken.

"Mother?" Krieg laughs at the notion. "You could never even been mother to her when you already killed her." he says walking slowly. "The idea that these mutations are a detriment is wrong. It keeps me in check, keeps me from dying a death every organic in galaxy would feel if they had the power of my veins, my blood, my will."

"You're wrong." Krinal says confused at her work. "I was wright, you're unclean, impure."

Krieg laughs, "No. I am exactly who I'm meant to be."

Krieg doesn't speak and leaps towards Krinal and the two grey aliens battle in the main foyer and the fight is fierce once again as biotics are used to their optimum capacity. They both dodge attacks and display a series of acrobatics before Krinal pushes Krieg to the wall and holds him. The male isn't going to give up and charges at her to knock her back into the wall before throwing his spear. She rolls left against the wall to avoid it and whips Krieg on the arm and it wraps around him. Though there is pain Krieg pulls her towards him and when Krinal is close, grabs her by the collar to throw her to the other side of the room. She gets to her knees and throws a shockwave but Krieg leaps up and pulls her towards him.

He then slams her into the ground before dropping himself and circling her, "Uncertainty is hard to believe isn't it? You spent so much time as a machine you failed to realise that even if something is million to one, there still is the one. You're plan was more likely to be a success but the one was chosen this day. Some people don't believe in chance. Me awaking wasn't a product of chance but who I met was. Someone I care for, someone I love, and it's something you can never feel."

Krieg faces his palms towards the kneeling Krinal and with his last ounce of energy fires. He releases the solid beam and Krinal creates a barrier which defects in the multiple directs and cause great damage to the room. As Krieg holds his position he can feel himself weakening but knows he has to hold on, feeling his skin under his armour breaking as unlike before is not giving into the pain and tiring use of power. His screams become louder and as he continues channelling his power him finally he's got what he was waiting for. Krinal could be heard screaming through the barrier as the barrier is being held up but it's too much for her to handle as she lets go and is pushed back into the wall.

Krieg stops and has enough energy to walk forward and see if what he has done worked. He sees Krinal sitting against the wall only unlike him she has changed once again. Her body has become frail and her face looks malnourished and her body wasn't strong enough to lift herself up to defend.

She feels weaker and looks at him, "What…what have-"

"Your body has failed you. Without the mutation your body can't contain the energy output it possesses like mine. You were powerful like me but overuse causes problems. That's why the mutations in me exist but they were dormant until my potential in that form had been reached. I evolved to compliment my power, but if you don't have the same mutation, two much energy used at one time could have killed you. You stupid bitch, you had the key to my power right in front of you, only your pride believed it was something to be disposed of. Now you've killed my daughter and yourself." he says triumphantly but regretfully before turning around and looking down, "I won't kill you like I've many others, because you should suffer your fate. So many years you've alive; this will still be a short death."

Brutagus and Likosh are nearing the obelisk and the pair is now on their own. The fight has been long and they have hardly any energy left as they break cover and attempt to run towards the balcony of the structure. The bridge that leads to the apparatus is entered though drones currently occupy the structure and Brutagus and Likosh are firing at them in hope that they react offensively and move. The effort is in vain and the pair are stuck and not even a third of the way across as the turian shoots a Tri-drone and its fall off taking smaller drones with it.

"Chek, we're almost there!" Brutagus shouts.

"Change of plan. I'm going to blow the side of the mountain! Everyone's a sitting duck otherwise. Retreat as quickly as possible!"

"Brutagus!" Rhea shouts while shooting down a few drones and nearing the bridge, "Don't destroy the obelisk, Krieg is inside the Palace!"

The turian looks at her and then continues firing forward, "Rhea said Krieg's in there?"

"Yes and Scythe seems to be helping him! Get out of there and we'll do our best to finish the job." Chek shouts down the line.

Likosh kicks a drone before turning back, "You heard him! We need to go!"

The pair turn around and Brutagus and Likosh join Rhea who is covering them, "Thanks for holding, Krieg needs to get out!"

"Chek just order to bomb the place, we need to leave now!" Brutagus informs about to leave but turns back. "Come on!"

"What! No! Tell him to stop! Krieg will die!" Rhea insists.

"But we won't! Krieg knew what his odds of survival were when he went into that place!" Brutagus says before grabbing her hand. "Let's go."

"No!" she shouts and the turian attempts to pull the asari while Likosh is stuck with covering them as they argue. Little did they know the ship is on target and releases missiles upon the side of the caverns nearest the structure. The explosion can be seen from outside and pushing through the rock as the obelisk is destroyed by the force of the cave in. It doesn't end there as all three of them begin to run towards the nearest passage but before Rhea can help the other two, Likosh falls victim to a landslide and Brutagus grabs her hand. Rhea is fatigued and tired and so is Brutagus and the two look in each other's eyes before the turian let's go and joins the krogan below. Rhea stops for a few seconds before turning around running through cavern only to be met by a wall of rocks on each side. She was trapped.

In the Scythe palace Krieg sits on a piece of debris with his spear held up in his left hand in his right is a cigar he smokes to pass his final moments. He inhales the smoke despite it not being good for him though these are the last images that INC would take of the alien and his nemesis lying in pain near him. Krieg smiles and pets the drone on the hull before pointing upwards and hearing the last words of its friend.

"It isn't all for nothing." he says while Scythe shows its ferocity.

The mound of dirt, rocks and machine squeeze the structure until it's crushed within. The Zenith shares this fate as the once pride of a fleet of pirates now is destroyed as the tentacles that attaches to it break and the ship begins to fall from high above. When hitting the ground the explosion that follows covers the valley between the mountains in black dust as the tower built by the protheans in an age before everyone else falls not over but into the earth of the planet, swallowed whole. Scythe had return to its former glory, not reaper or descendant but a separate life form in itself, sharing organic qualities that help it survive though how it does this itself is spectacular. This is the end of saga for one alien and his great enemy.

Sintarrio hover near the structure as it falls and has failed in his person task to save Juna, who is now deep within the underground or torn apart from the explosion. He had failed miserably and is once again alone with a face of great hatred for the one responsible as he reverts to his machine form and flies out of the atmosphere.

**2185- Rhea's Safehouse, Citadel, Serpent Nebula.**

This is the last image that is seen and it is from the ship of Chavai's though the transmission dies, leaving Joker with some clue about what happened to Krieg. He turns as Rhea exits the room donning blue armour and with her duel pistols. The armour was custom and by its use it was old but reliable as she puts on the helmet and shows her true face. The helmet had a mask on it and it was familiar to many authorities in the galaxy. The mask had eyes with black leans for her two look out of but under them was a single tear on the left eye in a silver colour.

Joker looks at the armour amazed, "You're the Blue-Widow? I thought the fact you were called Blue-Bride was coincidence. So this is who you mourn?"

Rhea retracts the helmets face so hers is visible, "Yes. I never saw Krieg again and the name became appropriate." She looks over to her team, "I've just heard, Cerberus are not far away. We better get ready."

Joker watches the other two leave the room and prepare themselves while Rhea walks to the room where she communicates with her teams and types in a self-destruct sequence, "What are you doing?"

"Cerberus has found us and this hideout is useless now. The keepers will repair it I presume but I can't risk it. Come on." she says leading the three of them towards the door and up the ramp.

She opens the door and for the first time in days Joker can see the sky of the Citadel but not for long as Rhea leads the group to where a transport is waiting for them. When they turn the corner of the warehouse they encounter hostile fire and keep cover with Rhea looking around the corner and seeing the enemy. Cerberus are not risking any chances with her as each trooper is wearing Assault Armour and packed with M-96 Mattock's with M-5 Phalanx's as their side arms.

Rhea keeps Joker back as she breaks cover and fires her pistol, taking two troopers out before hiding behind her air-car. Ecroy covers her as she continue firing her weapon though the amount of force Cerberus are willing to use at this time just show how much they want the asari. She shoots down one more before changing the chip and waiting as Ecroy moves next to her and helps her out.

Zeki grabs joker's arm and he groans, "Sorry. Come on, our transport is around here."

"What about Rhea?" Joker asks concerned.

"She can handle herself." The quarian says leading the human to the other side of the warehouse. She holds her shotgun high and keeps it pointed forward though as a Cerberus trooper appears from behind the corner she freezes and isn't prepared for the human in inferno armed with her pistol and ready to fire. The result ends with the human's head knocked against the wall from the impact of a single bullet from another M-5 Phalanx pistol to both Joker and Zeki's left.

Brutagus stands with his pistol pointed though lowers himself while Likosh holds a Mattack ready to fire at Zeki who is pointing her shotgun at them. "Zeki, you know better than to shoot."

"Fuck you, Brutagus!" she says though Joker hears the name and remembers what apparently happened as despite the fact that the turian is alive and well he and his companion survived though their means of survival are left to his imagination. "You set us up?"

"The first time, not this time. Sedath applauds the Blue-Widow's escape. He didn't think she would make it. Purgatory is a hard place to escape, isn't that wright, Joker." he says smiling at the human.

"You're not Cerberus, you're not human. Then who do you work for?" he asks unharmed and curious.

"Who do you think?" He says before pointing his pistol. Zeki remains still though she knows what will happen as the turian puts his pistol away and relaxes. "Better get going."

"We will." Zeki says directing Joker to turn the corner and leads while she keeps her eye on Brutagus.

Likosh tilts his head, "What about them?"

"Joker's safe, the files on T'Anya are ours. We're not needed anymore." the turian says as the pair begins walking down the alleyway away from the battle scene. "I'll be heading to Bekenstein tonight; I'll inform Sedath about what transpired here but Anderson made it clear to clear that Udina won't get involved further. However if something like what happened in the wards happens again we'll have to revaluate the politician and see if he is worth it. Our agent managed to recover the cargo Cerberus have now misplaced on the Normandy so we won't need the ship, the schematics will be useful enough and we can begin construction within a few weeks."

"So it's is confirmed. How could you survive that?" Likosh asks but not referring to anyone specific. "The Collectors must have done a real number on him. At least he had the intelligence to escape via the Normandy.

Ecroy and Rhea are still fighting the Cerberus troopers and the air-car is taking extensive damage. The gunship the human-organisation is using doesn't help either as the vehicle swoops down and fires its turrets across the floor until it hits the air-car. Rhea and Ecroy dive left though are open to the Cerberus troopers. The krogan stands first and fires his shotgun at one trooper before hitting another though the humans are overwhelming him as they trip the krogan and take him down ready for the kill. The officer like the previous one shot by Brutagus also wears inferno armour but this one is males as he pulls his pistol out of his holster and targets the laser against Ecroy's crest.

Rhea throws him with her biotics and trips the other two humans before standing up though when she gets up she turns to the krogan, who had received bullets wounds to the stomach from the skirmish. "We need to get you out of here."

"No. Go…make sure Joker survives!" Ecroy shouts before firing his weapon again.

Unlike the Rhea she once knew her current self-respects the krogan's decision and she presses a button on her wrist to send a signal to something to help. The Cerberus troops are unprepared as a as drone exits the air-car she used to get here yet it isn't INC and is a different shape. The machine is a dark blue like Rhea's armour and has oval-domed hull and in front exhausts that fire flames at trooper approaching to keep them busy. Rhea allows the drone to attach to her back as Krieg once did with INC and from the turret-exhausts the functions are utilised as she thrusts upwards and the drone acts as mobile jetpack. She dodges the incoming gunship before throwing a grenade towards the cockpit and the explosion results in an instant crash.

Rhea waits as another air-car nears her and on its way towards the upper wards and the left side door opens as the drone detaches itself from her and she climbs in the back while the machine that saved her sits next to her. "You got here okay?"

"Yeah, but Brutagus saved my life." she says catching Rhea's attention. "I don't know what he has to do with this."

Joker looks at Rhea for an explanation, "I know what it looks like but that was Brutagus back there and most likely with Likosh. The two survived the fall but we didn't know until years later. They were thought dead."

"And then they returned from the grave?" Joker says though from expression she likely the analogy. "Wait, so that guy is dead?"

"No, it's defiantly him and he is responsible for putting me in Purgatory. Five years I was stuck in that cryo-cell. When I escaped with your help and found that Cerberus was fighting the reapers I had to find you but by time we found the Normandy, you'd past though the Omega 4 Relay. We followed you here but I realise I may have put you in more danger than it's worth." Rhea says with guilt.

Joker leans to her, "Then what did you want from me? What really links me to you?"

"The Collectors. They made their move while everyone was away." Rhea reveals to him. "While we were on Sanctuary, the Collectors hit Virmire. It wasn't until we got back we realised just what they wanted but they took more than we realised."

**04/11/2165- Virmire, Hoc System, Sentry Omega**

The islands that housed thousands of asari, krogan and quarians are at a standstill as all ships have left and all soldiers in space. Smoke and destruction can been since all over the settlement while nothing moves apart from local fauna and the breeze pushing the flora while the home that belonged to Krieg is shadowed by a different presence. The Collector Cruiser stands high above and towers over the whole settlement while on the surface the collectors themselves are wandering across the landscape and taking out the small taskforce sent on ground. The bug-like aliens are not even touched while the seeker swarms move ahead but what they seek isn't bodies.

They were already inside the compound and the drones are moving the bodies of krogan into piles like they would do on their ships while Arakon is on his knees. The salarian had been working on a cure for the daughter of his employer though was now at the mercy of the collectors. The one in front of him hovers before feeling its insides and out glow and the skin cracks.

"I am assuming direct control." Harbinger states before landing on its feet and looking at the salarian. The reaper-possessed collector forces Arakon to open his omni-tool and show holograms of Krieg's physiology and the virus strain that he is attempting to create for Yenea. "Woven genetic structure, seen as weak evolution but in fact show signs of original design. Virus strain created from DNA." Harbinger looks at Arakon, "Natural biotic, this species is unknown, potential threat listed. The virus will be used to contain augmented individuals. Where is the child the Emissary promised?"

"I don't know." Arakon says as Harbinger looks away into the distance. "I heard she's dead now."

"Is that so? Once a useful tool but its choice of reverting back a primitive though selective isn't what we wanted. He located you, you befriended him, you gained trust and used the asari's emotions to get the information we needed. This creature and its offspring must be contained." it says.

Arakon feels slight ajar and begins to speak, "What do you want with me. You have your virus strain but the child is beyond my reach. Krieg wouldn't trust me with her, only one person has that honour and she is beyond you."

Harbinger looks at the salarian, "Then this person will give us the answers seek but for now both reason we are here are all we need. You are expendable, a body, nothing more while we are limitless." Harbinger fires the Collector Particle Beam and the weapons ammunition enters through the salarian and instantly killing. It then approaches one of the Collector pods and finds what caused the smoke outside and it wasn't the Collectors. Sintarrio is within the pod and had come here in attempt to destroy Krieg's settlement but found only its building and few token forces. He now is property of Harbinger. "The Emissary created this being, it still has uses. Bring it to me. Releasing control."

The opening of eyes and feeling of clearer air fills Rhea's lungs as she sits up a regains consciousness after days. She looks around to find that she is within a tent of cheap material and basic design before realising that her armour has been removed and her shoulder wound has been tended to. She gets up though with limited strength and only one good arm to balance her body and crouches outside to see that she is on the winter plains again only this time with more familiar people.

The fleet that house both krogan and asari have landed on the planet in order to establish a presence and destroy remaining force but this area is safe from any threat but a few frigates had landed on the planet with the two race beginning to bring supllies to the troops and the locals who have approached them. The Lierchar, the race that were thought extinct are currently talking with both asari and krogan leaders while Panool sits on a rock near Rhea and watches while smoking a device of his people. It is a metal tube with a filter at one end and an upward hole on the other, release smoke. He stands up and sees the asari as she watches the local clan leaders and their many warriors waiting impatiently.

"Rhea T'Anya, you have awoken to a new day for us." he says presenting the hundreds of his kind that have gathered. "The planet is ours, Scythe is free and we have you and your army to thank."

Rhea looks around and sees notable absence as Brutagus, Likosh and Krieg are not here but some have just arrived as a shuttle drops and Difan exits with Zeki, Mehoa, Lilk, Filestra and Yenea. She looks over as Zeki runs to her friend and hugs her.

"You're okay. We got the word a day ago." She says before looking at Panool who backs away.

Rhea still looks around hoping for some kind of new before seeing Ecroy and Agon talking. She runs up to them and holds her friend, "Is he here?"

Ecroy looks at Agon and shakes his head, "We couldn't find him. The area is unsafe now. Scythe is digesting the tower."

"Digesting?" Rhea says looking at Agon. "What's going on?"

"The machine you found has destroyed the Palace but also it seems to break it down, ready for reuse. The entrance we found for you and Krieg has been sealed by the seismic activity. It shut itself off from the world, everything." Agon reveals. "You did well."

Rhea now knows that for certain Krieg couldn't have survived though she looks at Panool who holds in arms Yenea, fascinated by her heritage. Rhea never thought she would have taken on the responsibility she was never ready for but knew Krieg always wanted. Walking towards the two the Lierchar puts her down and Yenea looks at her though from her expression knows something is wrong.

She crouches and let the grey alien hugging her though speaks, "Yenea."

Panool crosses his arms as Tovoh approaches the alien. The male is one of many who has been lingering with the krogan but his role in guiding them as given him a great deal of respect as approaches the much larger alien nods, "I was told who you were. You avenged us against the rachni."

Tovoh nods, "Our people were raised by the salarians long after you died out in the galaxy. What will you people do now?"

"We can return to surface cities we once inhabited and reclaim technology we built. The Clans are already talking about searching the stars once again, but that is not for males to decide." he states looking at the former-Scythe troopers. "The Clans still don't trust the asari but the comfort in knowing that some helped us is easier. Our ways have changed in the past two thousand years, stranded here, my ancestors and our home is dead. We can claim only this world."

"We have a proposition for your clans. A war is coming though the date is unknown to us and we'll be fighting a great enemy. The palace was a structure that would have been of great us to our cause but I have feeling your cities may provide some answers. If we help you reclaim them, will you share the information?"

"It's up to them but if males agree with what you say, the clans will respect your authority on the matter. The fish of skies are a destructive force but agents of them come in many forms." Panool says patting the High Lord on the shoulder and returning to his people.

"Anyone else accounted for?" Ecroy asks Agon who has had a long campaign.

"No, all are asari and drones and the creatures in the tower are nothing now. Brutagus and Likosh are unaccounted for though so is Sintarrio, who we saw pass the fleet but we couldn't catch him. They'll keep looking for him but it will be difficult." Agon states.

"They? I thought you would direct the search yourself?" Ecroy says before noticing Agon looking over to Tovoh and nodding. "What's going on?"

"The Scythe has been destroyed and the High Lords have decreed me to exile." Agon reveals though this is familiar to Ecroy.

The krogan shakes his hand in respect. "That's an honour. Where will you start?"

"Where we all do, Tuchanka. They have also given me another task. I am to retake Krieg's journey across the galaxy and find out what I can about him and his knowledge. He left a past behind that needs chronicling." he says before see Rhea still hugging Yenea. "She however will need a bodyguard to protect her. You're relieved Ecroy. Protect them both on the highest order."

"I will my battlemaster." Ecroy says returning to the pair and see Rhea is on verge of crying. "Hey, you couldn't have stopped him."

Rhea smiles though isn't happy, "He didn't have to though. I don't understand what his motivation was. Was he paranoid that Krinal would survive?"

Ecrou shrugs, "We received a transmission from INC though the machine didn't return. It has a catalogue of what happened."

"Did INC escape?" Rhea wonders hoping for the last piece Krieg to return.

Ecroy shakes his head, "It is uncounted for like the otehrs. Beyond that last transmission to the ship, there's nothing. What will we do now?"

Rhea looks to Yenea and even though she was born to Krinal with no mutation to help her survive knows that the responsibility is hers. "She needs someone now. I'm returning to Malal and I'll take her with me. Are you coming?"

"Agon has requested I enter your service, I won't let them down, I won't let you down. Fighting with you has been an honour; and I'd like to continue it. The galaxy will still be after you but if I can halt them, I will."

Rhea and Ecroy take the child of Krieg and head for the shuttle where everyone is waiting. She sits down and lets Yenea sit on her knee and they are joined by Chek, Zeki, Difan, Lilk and Mehoa as they all return to a place that they will all feel safe. The shuttle raises itself above and they watch from below as they leave the civilisation that has helped them through their journey. Rhea can't help but think who they are leaving behind, a father, a lover, a friend as she holds Yenea and they enter the depths of space hoping but with their destination again being unknown to them, just like when she met Krieg for the first time.

Brutagus and Likosh did survive though how they got off the planet is a question in itself but the turian among the galaxy is still considered alive and surprisingly well in terms of illness as he walks down a hallway with Likosh by his side though the krogan stops when a certain distance. The turian enters a room which one day would the final place where Saren would attempt his last stand as above are the Council Chambers but the room below is small, peaceful and private. He isn't alone inside this room as the Council had called this meeting with the single Spectre though all three of them are suspicious of the turian's latest endeavours. Brutagus however is not afraid of them as he sits on the rock next to the tree and smiles to them, mocking them.

"It's been year, Oristar." The Turian Councillor states. "We want a report on the Lierchar?"

"When we receive the distress calls we became both intrigued and concerned. The first contact teams seemed as if they were only interested in the turians. They completely dismissed the asari and our representatives." The Salarian Councillor ssys. "What did you find out?"

"Well, I'm not surprised with you two. Two thousand years of being trapped on a planet where they had to hide from an Asari Supremacist Organisation."

"We denounce the Scythe and their actions, we've established that for years." The Asari Councillor states. "Thessia has demanded that remaining Scythe pockets be found."

"But you did nothing about them originally. Moles in your government have keep Sanctuary of limits and pockets of the organisation survive. However the saalrians have been tied to them as well. It seems you were dealing in bioweapons before the krogan even existed."

"The Lierchar were always a very aggressive race, always arguing and skirmishing with the batarians and quarians. We abandoned the weapon because of their use in the rachni wars, limited as it was." The Salarian states.

"Yet when giving me access to the ancient documents states that Lierchar colonies had been destroyed by rachni without any additional reinforcements from the asari or salarians. You left them dry and when their homeworld was destroyed the Scythe could release the weapon on them for their plans" Brutagus reveals and very annoyed at the Council.

"That information is classified, even to Spectres." The Turian Councillor states.

Brutagus stands, "Yet I have it anyway. The Lierchar are forming a real government now and before they can tell you they have already made several demands. Their clan leaders agree that because the turians were not involved, their exempt but you two…they want reparations and there number is a lot."

"We won't take responsibility for the Scythe." The Asari states.

"The Scythe didn't just bastardise them and deform them, they enhanced them. Their people are hardy yet another power is willing to aide them if you're not." Brutagus says.

"The High Lords would get involved?" The Turian Councillor says in disbelief. "Your intel on them was concerning enough but if they become involved we can't stop them. Their location is hard to pinpoint for the size of army was even worse. They are threat to the Citadel."

"Exactly. You're being blackmailed on the greatest level. The High Lords are well hidden, not like the krogan we restrict here. Like the Lierchar their society has changed and since the Scythe defectors have joined them, they're society has only gotten stronger."

"What are saying?" the Asari Councillor asks hoping for answers.

"I predict in the next hundred years there will be cold war, between the Council and the High Lords which now have their first asari High Lady. Other factions are seeking shelter from them, quarian wisp communities have begun aiding them and some batarians unhappy with their government. Their expansion into the Terminus is becoming more visible and their influence has increased. People are seeing them as a growing nation, united under one banner." Brutagus states before getting ready to leave. "So, if you're that concerned with Lierchar, consider being nice to them." He leaves with disrespect over his face.

"The Dalatress' will not like the idea of the Lierchar blaming us, as well as news that the Scythe didn't just exist but was more involved than we realised." the salarian says before turning to the turian. "You remain relatively out of loop."

"The High Lords concern me though. Rumours of their existence and the amount of prisoners we've negotiated releases from have been full of red tape. Confidentially agreements broken. Brutagus is wright; we must get the Lierchar on our side."

"They have no real power, their Embassy died with their homeworld but if the High Lords make them a Client Race, we're in trouble." the asari says.

"Then we hold secretive meetings with them, but at the same time quarantine their homeworld in order to stabilise the region. Their location in the Traverse is a problem but we must find a way for the High Lords to abandon them." the salarian puts forward and they all agree to the proposition.

**2185- Normandy's Landing Bay, Citadel, Serpent Nebula**

The air-car with Rhea, Zeki and Joker inside is a safe distance away from the Nromandy SR-2 but the pair is helping the human to his ship. He looks at the vessel and feels at home after nearly a week but the situation is one of haste as Rhea keeps her helmet on and remains active while Zeki escort Joker towards the ramp leading to the airlock. Joker stands by himself and turns to see the pair who have been good to him though can't help but feel guilty for their recent developments Rhea retracts her helmet and smiles.

"Are you okay, Joker?"

Joker smiles though relieved but cornered, "I'm just surprised, that's all. You never told me who you work for?"

"We work for the High Lords." she reveals meaning she isn't just a criminal but an enemy of the state. "After all that happened while I was with Krieg, the Council was nothing to me and you know how they have treated the Reaper threat. The High Lords took it seriously and have been building an army ready for the fight."

"An army? Something that we will need." Joker admits before looking to Zeki. "So you're spies?"

"The Malal's status as a pirate ship has given us great freedom. The High Lords were committed to our safety but only to that point. They had to deny Rhea's connection and for good reason and had nothing to do with her escape, Cerberus should be thanked for that unfortunately."

"What about Ecroy? Will he be okay?" Joker asks concerned for krogan.

"He'll be fine, no doubt. He was sworn to protect me and her." she says before turning and see a figure walk from the shadows.

The figure is female and wears armour like Rhea only grey as the helmet retracts to reveal Yenea fully grown and safe from herself. The mutation is present though only mildly giving her eyebrows and small dots under her eyes and jawline. "What took you so long? I've been here for hours?"

"Cerberus found us. This is the guy." Rhea says and Joker now knows that there is definite truth in Rhea's words. "Joker, meet Yenea."

"Hi." She says though shyly and vigilant. "Did mom treat you okay?"

"Mom?" Joker says before looking at Rhea and realising that the asari had fulfilled Krieg dream and had been a surrogate parent to her all this time. "I thought she'd died. You said Arakon-"

"Arakon was killed by the Collectors and we didn't know it at the time. He was working on a virus to help but harbinger took it. The data he discovered from Krieg's tissue is dangerous in the wrong hands. Krieg was meant to gain those mutations to keep his biotics in check while he grew in power, meaning that they were hereditary anyway. Yenea gained them in her late teens."

Yenea pulls out her pistol nervous, "Listen, if you've told him everything, we should get going. The others are waiting on the ship."

Rhea smiles, "Okay." She turns to Joker, "Sorry this is the goodbye we have but I hope you'll leave knowing that we believe you, and we will be there when they come."

Joker smiles as the asari kisses him on the cheek, "I will, nice not being alone. Can I just ask you one more thing?" He gets a nod from her, "How did you know we went through the Omega 4 relay?"

Rhea smiles, "Scythe's origin lay in the IFF you had. We still had readings of the signal it omitted and found the same one on the Normandy. That reaper you found was Scythe's parent, so to speak. Now it's destroyed, the machine is completely separate from what it was but whether it's alive still, we don't know. Goodbye Joker."

Joker watches as the three aliens walk away from ramp and allow him to enter the ship though he can't go without thinking about the story his has heard and how other people in the galaxy have experience with reapers in their own way rather than as directly as he and Shepard have. Joker enters the ship and stretches as he looks at his chair waiting for him. He sees no one has bothered taking his space but who would if you're not the pilot of this vessel and he sits down and feels the controls again and the familiarity of them. He laughs as he starts them up and begins the sequence to leave the Citadel.

"Jeff, you're late." EDI says and Joker looks up happy to hear the warm voice.

"Yeah, ended up going to a party." he jokes before pulling the ship out the hanger and looking towards his next destination. "EDI, when we through the Omega 4 Relay did we pick up anything strange apart from the Collectors?"

"There was one thing but it has since removed itself. During the Oculi battle more of them were approaching, they suddenly disappeared."

"Suddenly, I thought Shepard dealt with it?" he says remembering Shepard going down to the Cargo Hold and fighting the machine protecting the Collector Base.

"Indeed, but I also picked up strange signals and during the infiltration, another AI structure the ship briefly. The signature matched a visual found when the Collectors boarded."

Joker opens the video logs of the ship to the moment he had to wonder around and find a way of saving the Normandy though it never occurred to him just what exactly was going on elsewhere. He opens the files and sees collectors and scions fighting the crew before they were capture but as he switches to the Starboard Observation Deck he sees something out of place. It is a servant of Harbinger though looks nothing like a collector or husk. The construct is turian in appearance and though modified to their purpose. The organic-machine had new skin that is orange-brown and organic tissue wielded to it while new machinery has replaced its limbs and covered in black plating curtosy of the reapers. The helmet retracts and face is seen to be Sintarrio's but unlike before much bulker and his face appears more dead than before as it turns to the camera, leaving Joker only more convince but decides to delete the image.

**Epilogue**

**2186- Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster**

Long after the events on the Citadel Joker is back on the homeworld of humanity though the reason wasn't of his choosing. He is still within the Normandy though is currently watching a group of Alliance Engineers beginning to make notes of the Cerberus Vessel. The ship is grounded and so is its pilot though this is last day before renovations of the Normandy SR-2 take place and he is simply getting a feel of his chair for the last time before leaving. EDI is still present though the AI had been silent for a while as the human gets up and is about to walk towards the door into the rest of the world.

"Jeff, there's and incoming message from an unknown location."

Joker turns confused, "What? I thought we cut off the Illusive Man?"

"This isn't the Illusive Man. I suggest you go and see what it's for…the message seems to have your name encrypted in it." EDI reveals.

Joker walks towards the CIC before passing Shepard's old messaging equipment and heads through the Armoury before turning left and heading into the room where Shepard would have conversations with the Illusive Man himself. He opens the room and enters and the table collapses for the pilot and he is hesitant in stepping onto it at first but when he does, the Normandy disappears and reappears somewhere unfamiliar.

He looks around and see only an office on what appears to be Bekenstein as he looks forward and see a desk with no one sitting in in, "Very funny, EDI. Joke's over."

"This isn't a joke, Joker." a voice says before revealing itself on the chair via his own ability. "I assure you, I wouldn't be so cruel."

He looks at the salarian, "And who are you?"

"Oh, sorry…my name is Sedath, you're aware of me are you not? If Rhea told you the truth about the Emissary she would obviously mention me."

"I know you're a criminal?" Joker crosses his arms.

"Perhaps." the salarian responds before standing up and looking out the window. "300,000 batarians dead, a new Shadow Broker and the Collectors gone. I'm impressed by Shepard's bravado." he says before turning around. "I hope my help was appreciated?"

Joker crosses his arms, "How did you get access to this? It can link only to the Illusive Man?"

"You don't think I have spies in Cerberus?" Sedath asks before sitting down. "Believe me, Joker, some things in your life have been merely of me and my associates will." The salarian sees he is confused. "Allow me to explain. Your friend or Commander was the first human Spectre, a feat that is a great thing for your species. But tell me who was the Spectre who recommended him?" he asks smiling.

"It was that turian on Eden Prime, Nihlus." Joker states sure about that fact.

"True, but Nihlus wouldn't have gotten word about him if Oristar Brutagus hadn't first scouted his accomplishments. It was shame he died but your human stopped Saren. At the same time you ruined our shares in Binary Helix when the Rachni went loose and the result of it. No matter, we still have credits to spend."

"That's impossible, how can you know about that? Brutagus was responsible?" Joker asks onlt seeing the turian once.

"He backed Nihlus' recommendation. However it wasn't to last after an associate of ours betrayed us. We can't take responsibility for the Shadow Broker's actions during T'Soni's quest to find Shepard's body but some of your team to fight the Collectors are linked to us." Sedath reveals and Joker listens, "Rhea told you about Tinun Solus, uncle of Mordin. Tinun is dead but his legacy lived on and Mordin finished the work Tinun was given. Okeer made a deal with the Collectors for similar technology the Emissary possessed years prior to build a perfect krogan body and then finally there is Subject Zero."

"Jack? What does she have to do with it?" he asks.

"Well you are aware that Rhea T'Anya was placed in Purgatory six years ago thanks to us and Shadow Broker. We needed her out the way for a while. She was put in a similar device as Jack but when Shepard pulled the lock on everyone, she escaped." Sedath reveals and smiling, loving every minute of the conversation.

"Bet you're pissed off with that?" Joker says smiling.

"No actually quite the opposite. I said we needed her out of the way for a while not indefinitely otherwise we would've killed her. No, instead we found that you were heading there for Jack so we decided to pay for Shepard in hopes that Warden Kuril would try his best. Criminals are easily bought."

"You've been helping us?" Joker laughs, "Why would you help Cerberus?"

"We weren't helping Cerberus, we were helping Shepard and you." he says standing up. "What Rhea failed to tell was that we're technically on the same side but we do not align ourselves with the Council or the High Lords. The last piece of business I was involved in was leaking certain information to Cerberus, giving clues to where to find the Yahg." He winks, "I just thought I say hello and wish you good luck. We'll need to fight reapers wont we?"

Joker stands firm as the salarian comes face to face, "Yeah, I guess we do." The channel cuts allowing Sedath the pleasure he needs and looks out the window, happy about the upcoming conflict and its possible revelations.

**A/N: There it is. Glad to have finished this fanfic after starting it two years ago and hope you've enjoyed reading it. I wanted to finish it before the release of Mass Effect 3 which I like all of you are excited about playing. Not sure if will do a sequel as this has been a long process but a fun one and would most likely be not as long if I do but until ME3 is out I won't bother. If you have any questions please feel free to send a message to my account or ask it in a review and I'll get back to you. I am pondering on whether to do short stories on certain characters so any requests will be nice to have.**

**Thank you for reading and hope you have enjoyed it. **


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